


Mass Effect: Home Front

by Lord_Pyro_I



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22820314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Pyro_I/pseuds/Lord_Pyro_I
Summary: Journal: Admiral Anderson POV. Leading the Earth resistance is easy to say but the reality is something else.





	1. Discovering the Reapers

Discovering the Reapers

_First time I ever saw the Reapers? It was when I took the SSV Normandy out for her maiden voyage. Officially it was just a shakedown run to put the new ship though her paces. Just another routine mission, but as I_ _’ve heard Shepard say they always_ **start off** _as routine._

_Everyone on the ship knew something important was going on even before we left space dock. None of them had been briefed on the true nature of our mission but I knew the rumor mill would already be working overtime. The Alliance, like most governments I’ve seen, would give the average ten year old a run for his pocket money when it comes to denying the obvious. Putting me on the ship was an obvious enough hint in itself but the Turian Spectre was pushing it even for them._

_Not that it was all that surprising that a Turian representative was joining us on our first voyage. This was the first ship the Alliance had co-designed with the Turian Hierarchy and they doubtless wanted to inspect the results of the joint venture. But sending a Spectre with us? They couldn’t have made it more obvious there was something more to this mission if they’d put up a sign in neon letters explaining the whole plan._

_“Sir, what’s this mission really about?” Asked Lieutenant Alenko just after we boarded._

_“What do you mean?” I asked feigning ignorance._

_“With all due respect sir if it’s classified just let me know and I’ll drop the subject. But please don’t insult my intelligence. You’re one of the most highly decorated captains in the Alliance fleet. Not the sort of person you assign to a shakedown run. And then there’s the Spectre they’ve sent on board, I mean who are they trying to kid?”_

_“Do you have a problem with Spectres Lieutenant?”_

_“Well no, not specifically sir, I can certainly see the purpose they serve, it’s just...” he trailed off._

_“Just what?”_

_“Spectres are above the law, literally. There’s pretty much nothing they could do that would get them arrested. I can’t speak about Spectres, Nihlus is actually the first one I’ve ever met, but I’ve had experience with someone who was given too much free reign before.”_

_“Bad experiences I take it?”_

_“It was back during my biotic training, there was this drill sergeant and-” he paused for a moment._

_“Actually sir I’d rather not go into the details. The point is if you let a man do anything he wants sooner or later you’ll wind up creating a monster.”_

_“And you think the Spectres qualify?”_

_“Couldn’t say for sure, like I said I’ve never met one in person before today.”_

_I considered what he had said, particularly given I knew that my current XO was going to be pushed to become the next member. I brushed the thought aside, Alenko had a point but there was little to be gained by trying to confront the Council on it.The Spectres were the way they liked to enforce galactic security, quiet, ruthless and without getting any dirt on the hands of the politicians. Still that was all far above my pay grade, my job was just to keep my men in line, with their minds focused on the job._

_“You’re right about there being a classified element to our mission,” I confessed to him, knowing that denying it would be pointless and that he understood how to be discrete._

_“And it’s going to stay classified, so if anyone asks about it your orders are to convince them everything is normal.”_

_“Shouldn’t our people be prepared if there’s danger coming, sir?”_

_“You have my word, this mission isn’t going to be dangerous, just secret. And speaking of keeping things under wraps, go to the cockpit and keep an eye on our new pilot, Joker. If there’s rumours going around you can bet he’s the source.”_

_“Aye aye sir.”_

_As he left I thought to myself, if only he knew. Our actual mission was to recover a Prothean Beacon that was recently unearthed on Eden Prime, a human colony. The Prothean’s were an advanced space-fairing race that existed 50,000 years ago before their mysterious disappearance. Their Beacon’s were often found to contain information about their history, culture and technology which was still far in advance of our own. They were incredibly rare (this would be the first ever found by humanity and the other races hadn’t turned up many more either) and unsurprisingly incredibly valuable. Our orders were to pick up the artifact from the human colony and transport it to the Citadel for analysis._

_In theory a straightforward mission although the possibility of pirates had to be considered. Eden Prime sat in an area of the galaxy referred to as the Attican Traverse. A border strip between the official Council territory and the region known as the Terminus Systems. The Terminus was filled with pirates, slavers and worse and raids into the Traverse were not unheard of._

_That’s why the Normandy had been selected for the mission. Not only was it a state of the art warship, one of the fastest in the fleet, but it also had the prototype stealth systems installed. This particular feature was unique to the Normandy, its secret weapon. Far as I understood it the idea was to store the ships emissions in internal heat sinks to allow us to move unnoticed. I’d been warned that under heavy assault pushing her too hard might cause her to burn up. Not a ship for the inexperienced then but I liked her all the more for it. I was sure that in the right hands she’d prove deadly._

_In fact despite all my reservations I was pleased about the mission overall. The Normandy was an amazing ship by any standards and this mission made her mine, I was hardly going to complain about that. More than that I had a fantastic crew with me, drawn from some of the best the Alliance had to offer. It was a shame that we would soon be losing Shepard but there was still plenty of talent here. If the mission went well I was thinking of recommending the Normandy be deployed in the Traverse long term. With her unique stealth abilities at our disposal we could really do some good work in helping to stabilize the region._

_Of course for that to work I would have to find someone to replace Shepard as my XO, most likely Navigator Presley. The only other option was Lieutenant Alenko who I’d just spoken to. He was on board as a combat and biotics specialist but even after one conversation it was clear he could have leadership potential given time._

_Presley was the most obvious candidate as he was the next in line. The only issue there was his attitude toward aliens might prove an issue if he walked in more elevated circles. But I’ll say this for the man, he was never in any way hostile to other races, he simply struggled to trust them thanks to his family’s connection to the First Contact War. His issues with other species were deeply ingrained but he fought against them admirably and never allowed them to affect his work. I hoped one day he would win that fight but worried that I would have to promote Alenko instead._

_My thoughts were interrupted when Nihlus walked in, evidently knocking is only a human custom._

_“We should be reaching your colony world shortly. It’s time we briefed Commander Shepard on the true nature of this mission.”_

_I nodded and dialed up the bridge on our internal comms system._

_“Joker, Status report.”_

_Jeff Moreau or ‘Joker’ as he still likes to be called was the pilot I had selected for this mission (well sort of anyway, I think he would’ve stolen the Normandy if I hadn’t hired him)._

_“Just cleared the Mass Relay Captain, stealth systems engaged, everything looks solid.”_

_“Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime.”_

_“Aye, aye Captain. Better brace yourself I think Nihlus is headed your way.”_

_“He’s already here, Lieutenant,” I replied while glancing back at the Turian standing just behind me, his cold eyes staring off into the distance. The fact that he acted as if he hadn’t noticed the comment did nothing to alleviate the awkwardness of the moment._

_“Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing.” I said ending the call. I glanced back again at Nihlus who still remained silent._

_“I apologize for my helmsmen, he has a habit of making bad jokes. Go on ahead, I just want to finish writing this report before I join you.”_

_I spent some time working on it, well maybe more than I needed to. If Nihlus was willing to burst into my personal quarters just to deliver a message he could stand to learn a little patience. Still he seemed practical and professional enough from what I’d seen, working with him didn’t seem as impossible as when I’d first been informed he’d be joining us._

_When I finally did arrive we brought Shepard up to speed on everything he needed to know about the Beacon. We also explained that he’d been nominated to join the Spectres and that Nihlus was on this mission as part of a final evaluation process. If he was successful it would be a huge achievement for both the Alliance and Humanity. As we discussed it I couldn’t help thinking back to my own evaluation process with Saren and how badly it had gone wrong._

_Suddenly we were interrupted by an emergency transmission from the surface. When we saw the footage, the tranquil Eden I had once visited was already gone. At first it was all confused, we saw gunfire, explosions but no sign of an enemy. An officer showed his face and begged for evacuation. Then the footage panned round to look at the aggressors ship._

_I felt fear from the first moment I saw it. The ship was gigantic, bigger than any I’d ever seen. Pitch black it had tendrils that hung down from the main body but in the video they looked more like the fingers of some enormous hand. A black claw reaching down towards the paradise below. I didn’t need to be told that our little frigate was no match for that monster. Our best bet was to grab what it was after (the Beacon obviously) and run with it, hoping it would give up on the colony once its objective was lost to it. That was my first encounter with a Reaper and my instinct had been to flee._

_On arrival we quickly learned that on the colony was swarming with Geth units. Presumably brought there by the ship we’d seen but it was a shock to see them at all. The Geth are a machine race with a violent yet tragic history. Originally created by a race called the Quarians, they had been designed to act as servants and been given no more intelligence than they needed to perform their assigned tasks. They were no more slaves than one might describe a computer as a slave it was argued._

_But they had the ability to share processing power and become smarter by doing so. As more and more Geth were constructed their intellect increase but the extent of this effect wasn’t realized until one day a Geth asked its Quarian overseer ‘Does this unit have a soul?’. The Quarians, fearing a Geth uprising, decided to act preemptively and the rest as they say is history. The resulting war ultimately drove the Quarians off their homeworld and out of the Perseus Veil, behind which the Geth remained in hiding until that day on Eden Prime._

_I sent Shepard, Nihlus, Alenko and a young officer named Jenkins down to the surface to recover the Beacon. As they fought their way through the madness below we were forced to sit above, powerless. All of our attention was on the enemy ship, our scans had confirmed what I had known from the moment I saw it. If this thing saw through our stealth systems we’d be dead before we even realized it. I was on the bridge while all of this happened, taking command, keeping everyone’s fears in check._

_In the privacy of my own head I tried to rationalize my fears. I remembered being terrified of the Turians when I saw them for the first time, fighting in the First Contact War. The first aliens anyone had ever seen and they looked like spiky monsters. I tried to tell myself that fearing this new unknown enemy was no different but everything we’d seen about this enemy so far suggested that this threat was on a whole new level._

_And what happened on the ground didn’t do anything to help alleviate my concerns. That mission is unlikely to go down in history as one of the Alliance’s great success stories though I must say that was no fault of those that undertook it. Nonetheless half the team sent was killed (Nihlus and Jenkins), the Prothean Beacon destroyed and Shepard rendered unconscious._

_Jenkins had been killed by the Geth but Nihlus on the other hand was killed by one of his own, another Turian Spectre by the name of Saren Arterius. The same man that had cost me my chance at becoming a Spectre and who hated all of humanity. Evidently that hatred had festered greatly to make him mad enough to attack a human colony (there was never any doubt that he was the one calling the shots there. Well, not until after we learned more about the Reapers and indoctrination in any case)._

_The Commander was knocked out when the Beacon was accidentally triggered and he interfaced with it. Before he’d even woken up some were suggesting the Beacon had tried to communicate with him in some fashion. And then the first thing he talked about when he woke up were visions of death and destruction, of organic lifeforms being slaughtered by machines. He tried to brush it off as a dream but I could tell he knew there was more to it then that._

_I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to explain that last part in my report but Shepard wasn’t the only one. I had some very bad premonitions about what was coming too._


	2. Log 1

Log 1

Date: 29TH SEPT 2186

Location: ALLIANCE HDD COMMAND CENTER, VANCOUVER, CANADA

I’ve never really been one for diary entries or writing books (hell you should see the state of my paperwork) but ever since I got roped into that biography deal I’ve seen how it can be useful to get your thoughts down on paper (or rather a data pad). I’m hoping I’ll spot something by doing this, some detail about this whole thing that I’ve overlooked in the past. Because if I don’t find something we might all be dead soon. 

Huh, that probably comes off as a little dramatic, particularly given my comfortable surroundings. I’m currently sitting in my private quarters in the main command centre of the Alliance HDD (Homeworld Defence Division). The comfortable bed in the corner and steaming mug of coffee on the desk don’t exactly suggest a man preparing for the coming apocalypse.

Probably best if I start from the beginning then, so here’s the headline: we have an enemy. By we I mean everybody, every man, woman and child from every sentient species still living as I write these words. If the enemy hasn’t been stopped by the time you read this, you’re their enemy as well and they are coming for you. The only name we have for them is Reapers, literally a race that only kills and harvests. They reap entire civilizations; destroying them so completely that the slate is wiped clean and all memory of their existence is lost forever. Then they disappear again and wait for the next crop, the next civilization to destroy. A cycle of slaughter that has played out thousands of times across millions of years. I first saw one of their kind on Eden Prime and the memory still haunts me. 

As you read these words you might believe that the Reapers are fictional as so many have done in the past. Your government may have told you that they don’t exist but they’re probably lying. You might think you’ve never encountered anything to do with them in your life but you’re probably wrong. At the time this is being written almost every sentient race in the galaxy is using technology based on things built by the Reapers. 

Things like the Mass Relays, massively powerful Mass Effect generators capable of flinging ships clear across the galaxy. The Reapers created a vast network of Relays to connect the whole galaxy together and then left them for us to find. They also left us the Citadel, a massive, virtually indestructible space station that we took as the centre of government for the galaxy. I’m describing these things in detail so that whoever reads this in the future will recognize what I’m talking about. If you’re part of a spacefaring race, you’ve almost certainly made use of both, as every civilization before mine has done in the past.

At this point you might well ask why the Reapers do this. Why help us build ourselves up only to tear us down again when the time is right? Why destroy one civilization after another in an endless cycle? What is the point of the Harvest? What to they hope to gain from this slaughter? To many of those questions I don’t have any answer. In fact I suspect it’s something I may never know. But I do understand the strategy involved if nothing else. We weren’t left these gifts to help us but to make ourselves predictable and to allow the Reapers to control our development. We have advanced into space travel using their technology but barely understand how it works. We have become so dependent on it that we may be blind to the threat until it is too late. The Reapers do not hand out gifts, only traps.

I’ve urged the Citadel Council to investigate the possibility that the disturbing claims made by Commander Shepard and several others about the Reapers are correct. I’ve campaigned using every resource at my disposal. Tried to convince them that even just a discrete investigation to root out the remote possibility that this threat is real, was in our best interests. When that failed, I tried to get permission to examine the technology they left behind (I didn’t put it that way to them though). The Relays are simple to use but have thus far proven impossible to examine properly. The hull of each Relay is made from an unidentified yet incredibly durable material. Able to resist both scans and weapons fire with ease. Worse yet there is a fear that being too aggressive might ‘break’ a Relay in someway that couldn’t be repaired, costing us a vital link between star systems. With no profit to be found in examining the Relays, no one is prepared to even try. 

As for the Citadel itself? We wouldn’t even be able to use such a complicated example of alien technology if not for the fact it conveniently comes with its own specially made support staff that we now call the ‘Keepers’. A quiet curious race that are only found to live aboard the Citadel, they maintain the station and run its basic functions for us. Part organic, part machine they were discovered on-board the station when the Asari first discovered it and immediately started helping them to use the Citadel without question and without being asked (in fact we have never been able to communicate with them directly. They simply anticipate our needs). 

The Keepers can’t be removed from the station without killing them. If they are killed they are instantly replaced but no one knows how or where the replacement comes from. If you try to interfere with a Keeper it self destructs. They are the only ones that know how the Citadel really works and we are completely dependent on them to run our centre of galactic government. Even as I write these words now, I realize just how crazy the situation must sound to anyone who has not seen it for themselves but most people here have simply learned to accept it. They crawl around the station with impunity and we treat them as invisible. Just one more example of the insidious way the Reapers’ influence spreads through our lives. It’s everywhere and yet seemingly leaves no trace of real evidence for us to look at. The only remaining lead I have is the vision Shepard received from a Prothean Beacon.

That reminds me, I should go down to the labs in the morning and speak with the techs again, I’ve been chasing them to find some evidence that the Beacon was responsible for Shepard’s vision. I’m not in any doubt of that myself but what I need is proof that I can take to the Council. That’s what I’m looking for when writing this thing really, some clue as to where I can find the evidence that I need to open everyone’s eyes. 

The Reapers are coming and yet the Council, the Alliance and damn near everyone else just sits on their hands pretending it’s not happening. The Council is the worst; they’ve dismissed the threat from day one, discrediting anyone who tries to speak out, just so they don’t have to face the truth. I don’t know how much time we have left but I’m sure it isn’t long. I don’t sleep easy most nights, I lie awake in bed worrying that I am failing in my task, that billions will suffer because of it.

But how do I know that this threat is real? What makes me different to the billions of sheep that accept the Council’s explanations? The simplest reason is that I’ve seen a Reaper in person and that memory continues to terrify me. But in truth that doesn’t make me so different from the rest of the galaxy. It wasn’t long after that encounter that the Reaper in question, Sovereign launched an attack on the Citadel. Supported by its Geth allies and the rogue Spectre agent Saren it almost succeeded in its objective: unlocking a secret Mass Relay on the Citadel to allow the entire Reaper fleet to instantly transport themselves here (A Relay I might add, that we had no idea even existed until that moment. So you can probably see my point about the disadvantages of relying on tech you don’t understand). 

That day we saw what even a single Reaper is capable of. We threw a fleet of ships at it and still it endured, burning everything in sight. As unlikely as it sounds (for a battle so huge) we only won that day because of the actions of one man; Commander Shepard. To achieve its objective Sovereign was reliant on Saren to operate the controls on the Citadel. When Saren was killed it was left with no choice but to take direct control of his corpse via his implants and fight a final, desperate battle against the Commander for control of the station. This proved to be a catastrophic mistake, the battle on the ground causing a feedback loop that disabled the Reaper and enabled us to destroy it. The Relay on the Citadel remained locked and the Reapers were left to make the vast journey back to our galaxy using only their conventional means of propulsion.

Naturally everyone of importance in the galaxy saw or heard about that event. The extranet was quickly flooded with reports of the Commander’s heroism. At least for the first few weeks he was heralded as the saviour of the Citadel. But as Shepard and I tried to translate that rhetoric into funding to face the threat the politicians quickly lost interest. It wasn’t even the money so much as the fear, the mass panic that would be caused by admitting to the existence of a galactic threat. So they quietly shelved the idea, convincing themselves that the Geth and Saren had been responsible and that Sovereign itself was no more than a Geth flagship (though if the Geth had been capable of building ships like that they would have destroyed us easily).

After that successful mission Shepard was sent off to wipe out the remaining Geth on our side of the Perseus Veil. It was seen as a cleanup task, a simple means of getting the Commander out of the way while they slowly destroyed his reputation. Six months into the mission the Normandy was attacked by a Collector vessel (The Collectors are an isolated, non council race which are incredibly secretive about virtually every aspect of their species). The ship was destroyed and its captain presumed K.I.A. Many politicians assumed that was the end of that until he showed up two years later alongside Cerberus, claiming that they had saved him. He worked with them as long as he could, using their resources to lead a campaign against the Collectors (who he believed to be servants of the Reapers ). Unable to help (for complicated reasons) the rest of us watched from the sidelines hoping that something would bring him back into the fold.

Unfortunately when that happened it was because of a tragedy. According to Commander Shepard the Reapers were on the brink of invading the Batarian Bahak system. In an act of desperation the system’s Mass Relay was destroyed to prevent the Reapers from jumping to the next system and beginning the invasion in earnest. But the Relay explosion released enough energy to devastate the entire system (not that anyone living there would have survived for long once the Reapers arrived en masse). Needless to say the collateral damage was catastrophic and the Batarians were furious.

Afterwards Shepard did everything right. After dropping off most of his crew he promptly turned himself in so that he could face the consequences of his actions. There was a trial of sorts and he ended up in jail (of sorts), all in the name of appeasing the Batarians. We hoped that might be enough to avoid a war but it looks like we were wrong.

We’ve recently received reports of massive fleet movements from Batarian space, all flooding into Council and Alliance territory. We’ve received no official declaration of war but neither do we really expect to. All our analysts are telling us that the Batarians wouldn’t issue any official declarations until after the first wave of attacks. They prefer hit and run style attacks, relying on dirty tricks and terror tactics to win their wars. If they follow their usual strategy then they’ll send agents to plant bombs in our colonies or assassinate key figures in government. So it looks like for all intents and purposes we are at war now. Damn, I knew all too well how angry they were but I thought we were making progress in our negotiations. Shows how little I understand Batarians I guess. Now every ship they have is being sent out without warning. 

And while we prepare to fight the entire Batarian Hegemony the Reapers are still on their way. Right now I almost wish they’d arrive. Once they do show up it won’t take long for everyone to see we have to fight together if we want to have a hope of surviving. That said I often fear that the longer it takes for us to unite the worse our chances will be. That’s why I’m sitting here working on this, if I can find some evidence of the Reapers existence maybe we can convince the Batarians that we need to be working together now not fighting one another. It’s an act of desperation, the Batarians have hated Humanity ever since we arrived on the galactic stage and I question if anything I can say would convince them to call off this attack. But we will all have to stand side-by-side when the Reapers finally do get here or we will all fall separately. Assuming we haven’t all killed each other by then in a pointless goddamn war.

I’m going to stop writing for now, I’ve rambled on long enough and I’m being called by the defence committee anyway. Apparently there’s some issue at Arcturus Station, the centre of the Alliance parliament. Not sure what could be so damn important its worth calling me back at this late hour unless…

Oh god no, I hope I’m wrong.


	3. Log 2

Log 2

Date: 30TH SEPT 2186

Location: VANCOUVER, CANADA

Today, the worst has happened. All my claims of ‘knowing the truth’ about the threat, now seem hollow and empty. The real truth is that I knew nothing. That I scarcely comprehended the scale of what was coming for us. For the last three years, I endured sleepless night after sleepless night, endlessly worrying away at one scheme or another. Schemes that I hoped might offer us some hope, some chance when the monsters finally arrived. And it was all wasted, all completely pointless. My preparations were woefully inadequate but had I known what was coming the terror might have driven me insane. So maybe it was better that way, to have hope born of ignorance. Believing that we still had more time left. Believing that there might be some way for us to hold the line in this conflict. But there was no war when they came for us, only slaughter, only the Harvest. 

I’ll try to pick up from where I left off. After I stopped writing I went to see the defence committee, to investigate the alert that had been raised regarding Arcturus Station. When I got there the room was filled with a crowd of anxious young officers. They were keeping busy but I could sense the panic in the room. For a while they were so busy that my arrival went unnoticed until eventually I managed to grab a junior officer going past and get her to tell me what was going on. She told me that Arcturus Station had just gone dark, no transmissions, no warning it just fell silent. We had just lost all contact with the single most important station Humanity had ever built, the site of the Alliance Parliament.

I went cold right then. The officer was still speaking to me, trying to reassure me that this was probably just some technical glitch but all I really remember is that cold feeling you get in the pit of your stomach sometimes. The raw fear of what’s coming next. I spent the next twenty minutes hovering on the sidelines as junior officers rushed around. The screens stayed stubbornly blank and I grew anxious, feeling the situation slipping out of our hands. In my head I said the same word over and over again ‘Reapers’. I felt quite sure they were responsible but what to do about it? Acting quickly I pulled an officer off the nearest work station and opened a comm link to someone I was confident would keep his head in a crisis, Admiral Hackett. 

I had known the Admiral for a long time (I actually served under him directly a couple of times) and his known him by reputation even longer. Hackett had commanded the fifth fleet for as long as almost anybody could remember and that experience coupled with his straight forward, no nonsense approach had won him the respect of our military, our politicians and even with many of our allies. I also considered him a trusted ally even if I wasn’t sure if he believed as strongly in the Reaper threat as myself and Shepard. Besides his fleet was closest to the station so hopefully he could provide some answers.

“What’s going on Admiral? I assume it’s not a ‘technical glitch’,” I commented as I approached.

“I’m afraid not. We’re letting that story run on the Extranet for the time being but in truth this was sabotage.”

“Sabotage? Who was responsible?”

“I’m just waiting to find that out now,” he replied.

“I’ve already sent a team over to board the station but so we only have their initial reports to go on.”

“What do they say?”

“About thirty minutes ago a team of Alliance personnel began a campaign of aggressive sabotage against the station. They attacked openly and without any fear of being identified or captured. My team is rounding them up but the station is a mess. Every major system onboard has suffered damage. The attack was coordinated and recklessly destructive, we suspect the Batarians may have had a hand in this.”

I was less convinced and waited impatiently for the team on Arcturus to check back in. When they finally did so their report only served to confirm my fears. 

“They’ve all gone crazy Admiral, we found them babbling like madmen. No clue as to why they did this but we’re testing them for hallucinogens, hopefully that might explain how they were affected.”

I shook my head at his words; there was a far more plausible explanation than drugs. I demanded the names of those involved and quickly searched for their service records. After looking at about five of them, a pattern soon emerged. I could see what was going on and it wasn’t the work of Batarians. 

“Admiral, it looks like everyone on that list was captured and later rescued from the Geth incursion three years ago.”

“All of them? That can’t be a coincidence. The Geth might’ve tried to turn them into sleeper agents but why strike now, the Geth hadn’t been active in almost a year.”

“We both know that those Geth were servants of the Reapers so it’s possible that they indoctrinated their prisoners. Which means if they’ve been activated now, it can only mean one thing. The Reapers are on their way.”

Hackett gave me a long hard look, his face unreadable.

“Are you certain Admiral? If we act on this and turn out to be wrong, we could both end up losing our careers.”

Leaving no one left in the Alliance who even slightly believed that the Reapers are real, I realized. A wrong call here could leave Earth oblivious to the threat. But how much worse would it be if it was the Reapers and we did nothing?

“They’re coming,” I stated firmly, not leaving any room for doubt in my voice. 

“Do whatever you have to.”

So while some were already trying to write this off as a stupid attempt to embarrass the Alliance, Hackett attempted to mobilize the fleets to fight. It took hours but for once we were actually getting somewhere. Several of the Batarian ships had finally been stopped and questioned and their stories added weight to our theory. They said that Khar’shan, the Batarian home world had been attacked by an overwhelming enemy and far from an assault, the incoming ships were filled with fleeing refugees or retreating troops. The Batarian Hegemony had already fallen under Reaper control and it was clear their next target would be the Alliance. 

We were not going to go quietly though, particularly not with Admiral Hackett leading the defence. He had ordered the Sixth and Seventh fleets to take position near Eden Prime. Their orders were to slow the enemy advance for as long as possible to give the Second, Third and Fifth fleets at Arcturus a chance to prepare a proper defence. Then they’d fall back to Arcturus to join the rest of our forces and any reinforcements the Council could send us. We figured with so many ships we’d be able to hold off their initial invasion force. After that we could decide how best to link up with the other Council races long term and take the fight to the Reapers. For all that I’d heard about the Reapers’ strength I still figured we had a shot. In past cycles they had won by hitting the Citadel first and crippling any chance of a coordinated defence. Thanks to Commander Shepard we had been spared that catastrophe and I had to believe that it would make the difference. 

Still there were some issues we had to face first, the main one being the Earth Defense Committee. Despite the fact that we planned to have our fleets hold the line at Arcturus we still wanted to have our forces on the ground ready in case they broke through. Unfortunately the authority to give that order rested with the committee and they had a habit of dragging their heels over every issue. We couldn’t afford that in this situation so rather than get bogged down in endless arguments we settled on a small piece of theatre for their benefit. Something simple that would give them a sense of urgency on this issue. It ran something like this:

“How bad is it?” I asked to set the tone while the committee listened in quietly.

“Bad.” Replied Hackett gravely. “We just lost contact with two of our deep space outposts. There’s something massive on long range scanners.”

A complete lie of course. Our scanners didn’t have the range to detect ships that hadn’t jumped into that star cluster yet but from everything we’d been told from the Batarians it wouldn’t be long before we could. 

“Is this what Shepard warned us about?” I asked. We had agreed that I should be passive in this exchange so that my own personal bias (in that I believed in the Reapers) wouldn’t be brought up.

“I’d stake my life on it.”

“How long do we have?”

“Not long. I’ve sent word. The fleets are mobilizing.”

“God help us all.”

Full credit to Hackett for the script, if there was ever such a thing as an ‘expert’ in leadership it would be him. Every bit of it was carefully calculated to get the result we needed. The added tension, the clear statement of facts to discourage argument, even the fact that the committee were set up to ‘overhear’ the discussion instead of being presented a case to mull over for hours. In the end they bought it completely and immediately ordered us to begin mobilizing ground troops. It would take hours for them to be fully ready but we hoped our fleets could buy us sufficient time.

Soon the only possible preparation left was get our main Reaper expert here pronto. Given the fear that was enveloping us all it didn’t take much convincing to get the top brass to order Shepard’s release and have him brought here. I set off to meet him halfway, hoping to brief him on the situation before he faced the full committee. 

When I caught up with him he was being escorted by Lieutenant Vega, a soldier I’d assigned to guard Shepard during his trial and subsequent house arrest (call me paranoid but I wanted someone to have his back). We also ran into Lieutenant Commander Williams who had just come from the committee herself. She and the Commander are old friends but I think things have been awkward ever since he worked for Cerberus. In any case we had to leave the Lieutenants behind as we headed into the committee chamber.

Things had gotten much worse by the time we’d returned. The crowd had been cleared away, sent on assignments I think just to keep them busy. Hackett’s comm link was dead too, so it was just me and Shepard standing in front of the defence committee with a handful of guards on the sidelines. It was strange to see the vast room so empty. The committee were sat in a row behind a huge desk, like judges at court. Behind them the massive windows let the light of the new day (I hadn’t even noticed it getting so late, or should I say early) into the room. 

Then they dropped the bombshell that we’d actually lost contact with everything beyond our own solar system. In the time it had taken me to fetch Shepard we had gone from having a fighting chance, to not knowing if our fleets were even still out there. Most likely I assumed that a force of Reapers had somehow managed to avoid the battle and were now somewhere nearby, jamming our communications. The other possibility, that they had smashed their way through our fleet already; it didn’t even bare thinking about. 

Either way it looked like we would need to fight soon ourselves. Not that the Defence Committee was likely to be much help .From the fear clearly evident on all of their faces it was plain to see they were expecting us to tell them how to survive all this. In fact within minutes they asked Shepard exactly that question. I’m not exactly sure what they were expecting, the Commander wasn’t a miracle worker afterall. All he could do was attempt to make them understand the nature of the threat, that we could fight or we would die.

It made little difference in any case. Within moments we were interrupted, a young officer announcing we’d lost contact with our Luna base. The idea that they could have gotten so close so quickly seemed absurd but in truth it was only the tip of the iceberg. We were told that someone had a visual on the Reapers in London. When the feed came up all we could see was smoke and flames, a single soldier shouting into the camera before the connection was lost. Then we saw the news feeds as Reapers began to descend on the cities one by one. 

It was so surreal, while we held a meeting to figure out how to stop the Reapers they were occupying the Earth as a conquered territory. My first instinct was to try and get the committee to safety, to retreat back to… where? That was my second reaction, the Reapers owned our skies, could drop on us at any time, could burn through buildings like a hot knife through butter. I swear to god that was my last thought before that shot came straight through the window, wiping out the committee and sending us flying.

Everyone in the room had been knocked down or killed, I was on my feet quickly though and rushed to get Shepard moving. He was dazed from the impact or something I think, but I managed to get him to focus on getting out of there the only way we could. We rushed out of the broken windows and fled over the rooftops. From up there we could see most of the city and clear across Vancouver Harbour. Several Reapers had landed nearby, towering over us despite our being on the roof of a skyscraper. Their spider like legs supporting their main body so they could pick targets at their leisure. Occasionally one of these giants shifted its position crushing buildings and knocking over tower blocks with their sheer size. Bright bursts of red light seemed to emerge from the clouds to burn swathes through the city, the only visible sign of the orbital bombardment.

I tried to signal the Normandy, had no success there but I managed to get through to Lieutenant Commander Williams. She and Vega would head for the Normandy while we hurried over the rooftops to reach the spaceport so they could pick us up. It wasn’t likely to be easy for either group though our vantage point did let us see how bad the situation really was. In the sky I saw what seemed like thousands of tiny ships all flying around chaotically. Most were ours, fighters and gunships trying to fight the Reapers (hopeless as it was, those things were a thousand times their size) and shuttles and skycars attempting to flee the city. The only ship really making a fight of it was a single dreadnought still holding position over the city. Dreadnought class vessels are the strongest ships in our fleet (we only have nine in total) but I knew it wouldn’t be long before even that ship was forced to retreat.

The Reapers had their own stuff in the air too. Not just giant Reapers but also thousands of smaller drones, sent out to shoot down as many ships as possible. I was worried that, exposed as we were, we might make an easy target for them until I realized that we had more than enough to worry about on the ground. The Husks were already here in force, overrunning the streets and swarming up the sides of the building towards us. We managed to deal with the first wave easily enough but I decided we should head into one of the ruined buildings to avoid attracting any more attention.

Oh yes the Husks, I should explain these things in case this ends up as a message to the next cycle. The Husks are humans, or rather were humans that the Reapers have converted by implanting cybernetics to control them. Every trace of humanity is stripped from them, leaving behind a rotting corpse, riddled with metal implants. In the Reaper army Husks act as mindless killing machines, that throw themselves at the enemy in vast numbers to overwhelm them. The way they charge at you, unarmed and crazed like a rabid animal can be terrifying to the average soldier. I don’t understand what the Reapers do to them but I’m sure there’s a lot of pain involved. Sometimes it almost seems like the Husks can still feel what was done to them, the Reapers weaponizing that tortured agony to turn people into snarling beasts, bent on revenge. 

I could hear the crowds of people in the streets below us, I even caught sight of them once or twice. The bombardment had flushed a group of survivors out into the open. Terrified of being crushed by the falling buildings they tried to flee the city but it was hopeless. When I saw them the street was so crowded that the people couldn’t even move. Crammed in like sardines, there was nothing they could do when the enemy closed in from all sides. The screams grew louder below us but I forced myself to ignore it. I was too far away to help them and it was hard enough trying to make our way over the rubble as it was. If we tried to rush our only reward would be a very long fall (a stupid way to get ourselves killed given the circumstances).

Still it wasn’t easy to hear unarmed civilians being slaughtered below us. Particularly when we, the trained soldiers faced no more resistance than a few Husks. To distract myself I tried talking to Shepard, knowing that I needed to anyway; so that he would be ready for what I had planned. Someone had to get off-world and get a message to the Council to let them know what happened here and request reinforcements to help retake earth. They’d stalled and dragged their heels and basically been a pain in the ass from day one but if we wanted to stand any chance at all we needed them now. I told the Commander all this because I’d already made up my mind, Shepard didn’t know it yet but I was going to stay on earth. One of us clearly had to go, that much was obvious. But I refused to leave these people here to die. Besides I owed the Reapers some payback. 

We kept an eye out for survivors, as unlikely as it was, hoping that we might be able to save _someone_ from this nightmare. I didn’t see anyone but I think Shepard may have come across a kid (I assume it was a child from the way Shepard spoke to him) that I hadn’t spotted. He spoke with them briefly while I struggled to get the next set of doors open but I could only make out Shepard’s half of the conversation. In the end it sounded like the kid ran off rather than accept our help. I closed my eyes and said a small prayer for whoever it was, not because I believed but because there was nothing else I could do.

Eventually we made it out of the wreckage and out into the open air again with the harbour and the space port now clearly in view. Unfortunately before we had gone more than a few steps we saw the Reapers target the dreadnought that was still fighting above the city. As it exploded the shock wave was so huge it hit us from miles away and caused the entire platform we were standing on to collapse. We slid down the side of the building, down towards the docks themselves and found ourselves surrounded by water and debris. A maze of scrap metal made from the remnants of the ships shot out of the sky.

By this stage I’d lost all contact with the Normandy (Williams and Vega had got there before the line went dead) and I needed to get it here so I could send Shepard to get help. That’s when we finally came across some other Alliance soldiers. They’d come from a gunship that had crashed in the harbour, told us it still had a radio on-board that could reach the Normandy. We managed to get our hands on it but we were ambushed by these creatures. Never seen anything like them before. They seemed to be like the husks, an altered race designed to serve the Reapers but they were so distorted I couldn’t make out which species they’d used. These things certainly did have guns though; we were hard pressed to hold out until the Normandy arrived. 

I told Shepard to go on without me then, left him standing on the ramp up to the ship. Just as expected he hadn’t wanted to leave me behind but they had no choice, they were lucky the Reaper didn’t blow them out of the sky as it was. I watched them disappear into the clouds then hurried back to the survivors from the gunship. To be honest I’d been so focused on getting Shepard out of there I hadn’t really thought much about what I was going to do on the ground. Hadn’t had much time to think really, when I got back to the survivors we were all just reeling from shock I guess. As I stopped to try and make plans the full enormity of the situation hit me. Earth was an occupied territory. The human home world, fallen in a matter of hours to the Reaper arrival.


	4. Log 3

Log 3

Date: 30TH SEPT 2186

Location: VANCOUVER, CANADA

Just to clarify, I hadn’t intended to end that last entry there but I was interrupted before I got a chance to write any more. I’m going to do my best to keep this record up to date but you’ll have to bare with me. This war leaves little downtime and frankly, though I’ve managed to reach a secure location for the moment I’m not sure how long it will stay that way.

So I left things just after Shepard departed in the Normandy to get help from the Council. I was left on my own to trudge back to the soldiers from the downed gunship we’d come across earlier. I grabbed what gear I could, including the radio and made my way back to them. One of them was in pretty bad shape from what I could see; he had a broken arm, a twisted ankle and several cracked ribs, all injuries from the crash I think. I have basic medical training so I patched him up as best I could, tearing apart the uniform of a fallen soldier just to make a sling for his arm. 

Once that was done we hunkered down and I turned the radio back on, trying to get a sense of what was going on. With the whole city in chaos we desperately needed to contact someone in authority and find out where our military forces were rallying. At first all I got on the radio was static but eventually I managed to get through to a General Coburg who was attempting to establish a defensible fallback position in some sort of underground shelter near the centre of town. Once he knew who we were he gave us directions to the base. Apparently it was our best bet, being one of the few areas in the city deep enough underground to be safe from aerial bombardment. 

He also let me know about a group of civilians hiding out in the police station, it wasn’t too far out of our way so he figured we could extract them. “Oh and grab any police officers and weapons that happen to still be there as well” was the last word we got out of him before he abandoned the comm to go deal with something else. I wondered briefly what his last slave had died of but there little sense in arguing, besides he was already gone.

So the three of us set off, one of which was injured and with just two pistols left between us. Not much of a rescue team by usual standards but there was nothing else for it but to get on with the job at hand. I helped the injured soldier get to his feet and asked for their names.

“It’s Hetford sir, Corporal Hetford. My injured colleague over there is Private Daniels.”

We trudged onwards, back inland away from the harbour. It was quieter here now that the Normandy had cleared the local area of enemies but back in the heart of the city the battle was clearly still in full flow. As we started to make our way towards the station I took my first proper look at my new companions. At first glance they looked very much alike, both dark-haired and dressed in Alliance regulation combat gear but while I’d guess Daniels was still in his early twenties the years showed much more heavily on Hetford’s face (I couldn’t help wondering why he was still only a Corporal really). To distract them from the horror I tried to get them talking.

“So you got any family Corporal?”

“Some. Got a girl waiting for me back on the Citadel. Parents retired to live on Elysium so I haven’t heard from them in a while but at least-”

“At least they’re safe for now,” I finished for him quickly though I knew the Reapers would reach the Skyllian Verge quickly enough.

“What about you, Daniels was it? Where are your folks right now?”

“They were both in the Alliance too but Dad died years ago, back during the Blitz.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said quickly. The Skyllian Blitz had occurred about ten years ago when a group of pirates and slavers funded by the Batarians had attacked Elysium. We learned a sharp lesson that day that our colonization efforts weren’t appreciated by everyone. They pushed back against our expansion hard but the defenders on the ground (including Shepard who made a name for himself that day) managed to hold out until the fleet could arrive.

“What post is your mother assigned to?”

“She’s on the SSV Madrid, fifth fleet.”

Hackett’s fleet in other words, another source of worry if less so. One thing I can say about Hackett is that he’s a tough SOB even by military standards. He was out of contact but I wasn’t prepared to count him out of this war yet.

“Actually I also have a brother in-”

“Quiet now Private,” I warned as we passed into the shadow of the buildings, losing the clear lines of sight we’d enjoyed nearer the open water. He seemed confused by this warning at first, afterall everything still seemed calm enough around us. Thing about combat is, even when everything seems to be going to hell, in a lot of the world nothing is happening at all. It looked like the invaders hadn’t deployed ground troops in this area yet but it would be stupid to risk falling into an ambush. 

Myself and Hetford were on high alert as we crept through the abandoned streets but before long Daniels was approaching panic, unnerved by the lack of people and the evident destruction all around us. It should have been a busy area but it was clear everyone had fled when the Reapers first arrived. The burnt out skycars and smashed shop windows a testament to the “orderly” evacuation. Humans had many great qualities but tended to turn on itself in a crisis, doing the Reapers work for them. Maybe it’s our diversity devolving into total chaos when we panic, I mused. At any rate I was just glad no one had been trampled here, Daniels seemed anxious enough without seeing a body. 

Then we got the worst thing that could’ve happened at that point, the Reaper started making this strange noise like a fog horn. It was so loud it set my teeth on edge but it was worse on Daniels, he started shouting in alarm every time the horn blared out. Someone (or something) was going to hear him so I admit I put him in a chokehold until he passed out. Hetford helped me carry him and we started to make more progress. 

When I looked up I realized we must be close to the station; no more than a couple of streets away at most. I had walked through this area a few times in the past but I didn’t recognize it any more. I could read the street name clearly enough but the smashed up buildings and ruins? It was like nothing I could identify with. Worse yet the way was blocked too, a pile up of skycars blocked the road, and several had scorch marks from the weapons fire that brought them down. I glanced up to see several small drones flying above (not Alliance ones). They hadn’t spotted us yet but we had to duck into a building while they passed overhead. We made a detour and managed to reach the police station before we ran into more hostiles. But when we got there the station itself was a different story, it was under siege. The building was surrounded by Husks battering on the doors and windows trying to break in. 

I knew it wouldn’t be long until they noticed us but for the moment they were too focused on trying to smash their way in. I signalled Hetford to stay quiet and slowly drew my pistol with one hand while using the other to help carry the unconscious Daniels. Hetford followed suit and taking careful aim we got in a few headshots before they even saw us coming. The Husks we hit dropped instantly but there were plenty more starting to turn on us, shrieking wildly as they charged. Luckily our detour had brought us through a narrow alleyway that was now funnelling our enemy into scope. We tried to pick them off as they closed on us but their savage speed made it impossible to get a clear shot (need to watch out for that in future, it’s surprising just how difficult their wild, crazed movements make it to aim at them properly). We were already struggling to hold our own when Daniels woke up unexpectedly. 

Startled to find himself being carried through the air while robot zombies charged at him down the street he woke in a panic and started thrashing wildly in our grip. Our efforts to hold him steady were only making things worse so I let go of his legs only to be rewarded with a kick in the gut that knocked me back against the wall. Desperately I tried to scrabble back onto my feet but there was no time, the Husks were already on us. 

Two of them were still closing on me before I could fully recover while at least three tried to charge Hetford. I had a good vantage point to deliver a clean headshot at the first but the second dived at me a second later. We were so close I found myself staring into its glowing mechanical eyes that were almost like cameras sunk into its eye sockets. It’s weight pinned me down while it clawed at me but the awkward position prevented it from ripping me apart as it intended. I managed to get my gun free and pointed it flush with the side of its head before pulling the trigger. Nothing. Just a small alarm from my gun warning me that I needed to reload but my thermal clips were at my belt, impossible to reach now. Behind the Husk I could see more enemies in the middle distance, not a threat yet but warning enough that I needed to end this fight right now.

In desperation I threw all my strength to the right and caught the Husk off guard, rolling us over so that I was now the on top. The hateful creature shrieked even louder and redoubled its efforts to try and kill me. I raised up my pistol and smashed it down on the creature’s head, stunning it enough to stop it attacking for a moment. But I didn’t stop there, I smashed my weapon against it again and again, ignoring the blaring Reaper siren pounding in my skull. I didn’t stop until the back of its head cracked open like an egg and the blue light faded in its eyes.

It had felt like minutes (or even hours) of fighting but in reality it had only been adrenaline soaked seconds. Still I turned my attention to what had changed while I’d been distracted. Hetford was still on his feet with a knife, surrounded by unarmed Husks all trying to get past his weapon and murder him. My pistol was ruined in the brief fight and there were far too many to take on unarmed without help. Daniels was nearby but being dropped by us hadn’t helped his injuries at all. He crawled away from the enemy as best he could, largely ignored by the Husks, certainly he was in no fit state to fight right now. 

Instead I charged through the crowd towards the police station, making progress by throwing punches at anything that got in my way. I reached the doors with only a few scratches to show for it and started banging on the glass shouting at them to help us. I could see frightened, impassive faces on the other side; they were too scared to open the door. They all just watched me at first, some of them shouting at me to leave them alone, their voices muffled by the glass. Then I heard an argument, someone was shouting at the people at the door. There was considerable reluctance but eventually one of them gave in and threw a weapon out the window for me, a proper assault rifle. 

Not exactly what I’d had in mind but I wasn’t about to argue. Instead I snatched it up off the ground and turned to face our assailants. They’d managed to get past Hetford’s knife and pin him to the ground, I couldn’t even see him under the pile of bodies but I started firing anyway. All grouped up around the corporal they didn’t really stand a chance. Some of them tried to get back up and charge at me but it was a futile effort. I was able to pick them off easily until the last of them fell. But when I got back to Hetford it didn’t feel like much of a victory; they’d ripped him apart. 

He was covered from head to foot in scratches, bite marks and worse, moaning in agony. I took a quick look at the state of his injuries. It didn’t take a genius or even a doctor to see there was only one thing that could be done for him. Swearing and cursing myself in the privacy of my own head I did what needed to be done. Loading another clip into the gun I put an end to his suffering.

Then I turned away, hating myself, forcing myself to do it so I could focus on survival. In a combat zone there is no space for sentimentality so I helped Daniels to get up, knowing we needed to get inside before any more enemies arrived. I was so worn out at this stage I didn’t think I could even reach the station with him in tow but thankfully some of the people inside were now willing to come out and help. 

In the station I found a crowd of about twenty or thirty people, about half of them civilians that had escaped to here when the attack began. Many of them were just sitting in the corners crying quietly to themselves but one woman with bright red hair marched up to me an introduced herself as Maria. 

“You look like Alliance, am I right?”

I sighed already completely exhausted and drained emotionally by everything that had happened. I’d been awake for... Well I’m not exactly sure, roughly 29 hours I think (I didn’t have a watch handy to tell me the exact time). I nodded and took a seat on a nearby chair trying to regain some small sense of normality before replying. 

“Admiral Anderson.”

“Admiral, huh? Some big shot?”

“You could say that. Thanks by the way.”

“For what?”

“I assume it was you who helped us just now.”

She shrugged. “All we did was throw you a weapon, not that any of this lot would’ve even thought of that if I hadn’t suggested it. Seem to have lost their wits when this invasion started.”

I looked up at her, she looked as scared as anyone but she was defiant and trying to be brave in the face of all this. I admired that while the whole world was going to hell she still had the strength not to give in to despair.

“Listen I’ve come to get you all out of here. We’ve been told there’s a military base nearby where the Alliance is regrouping. Hopefully you should all be safe there.”

“How do I know I can trust you? These people are my officers or under my protection. They go where I say they go.”

“Maria I stayed here to fight those things out there. Could’ve gotten out if I’d wanted to but I’m here because I haven’t given up. I need people like you who can stay strong in all this; can you do that for me?”

She seemed to calm down at that, a little at least.

“What the hell are those things?” She asked, gesturing towards the window.

“They’re called Reapers; If you watch Citadel news coverage you might’ve heard Shepard trying to warn people about them in the past. It’s too much to explain right now but as you can see they’re a very real threat. We have to find a way to stop them.”

“Alright, how can I help?”

I was surprised at that, I was just trying to calm her down, I wasn’t expecting her to volunteer to wade into a war.

“Uh I think it’s something best left to the professionals.” 

“From the looks of things your “professionals” seem like they could use a little extra help.”

I chuckled at that a little, it wasn’t very funny but nearly being torn apart by husks will do weird things to your sense of humor an in any case maybe she could help. I could see several of the other survivors watching her and it was obvious they looked up to her as a leader. 

“Good point. Look we need to get out of here, can you find out who knows this place best? We need to grab everything useful and find a way out of here.”

“As the chief around here, I know this place better than anyone. I’ll have some of my men clear out the armory and then we can sneak our way out the back. I can have someone grab a stretcher for your friend too.”

“OK grab everything you need, we’ll move in one hour.”

Frankly I’d need that hour to recover. I slumped down against a wall like many of my fellow survivors ruing the loss of fitness that had come with age. Not to mention promotion which if anything was worse. It pained me to realize that despite thinking of myself as a soldier first and foremost I’d still let things slide as my career forced me off the battlefield and into politics. Time was I’d have been fit enough to make it to the station in half the time, even carrying a wounded soldier. 

Maybe I’d have been able to save Hetford if- No I can’t let myself think like that. There’s no way to know what we would’ve run into if things went differently. Change one thing that we did and there’s no way of knowing how things would have turned out or if any of us would have made it. I’ve lost a lot of men under my command in my time (saved more than my fair share too mind) but sooner or later you lose someone. In this war casualties were always going to be inevitable. 

I knew all this well enough, seen it more times than I like to recall but the knowledge never helps. Each lost soldier gets lodged in your mind, a permanent reminder of your failure. The only way to keep the ghosts at bay is to solemnly promise to do everything in your power to stop anyone else joining them. That helps a little but do it enough times and the words taste bitter in your mouth and almost seem to mock you. Laying a fresh promise over all the old broken ones like covering over an old wound. Even though I’d only met them today I still thought of Daniels and Hetford as being under my command. They had followed me here at my order and one of them had died. 

I sighed and tried to think of something to distract myself with. I remembered I’d brought that datapad with me, trying to document evidence the Reapers were real. I nearly threw it away, they were here now, we had all the proof of their existence we could ever need. But having pinned my hopes on it yesterday I didn’t feel able to destroy it so soon despite the rationalist in me telling me that it had become worthless.

In the end since I didn’t have anything else to do and didn’t feel able to sleep I started writing, got as far as Shepard’s escape in the Normandy before the call went out and we had to move. So now you know why I had to break off earlier before while I was still out in the open. I don’t think it’ll be the last time I’m interrupted but maybe the journal will help make sense of all this carnage. Or stop me from going mad.

Luckily the journey to the base wasn’t nearly so eventful as our trip to the police station. Possibly because we sedated Daniels this time and carried him on a stretcher. We marched through the streets in silence, just taking in the view of the devastation. Every street seemed to be smashed; we saw empty shells of office blocks blown up, skycars and shuttle craft crashed in the middle of the road. Half the streets we came across were blocked by debris, or our scouts would spot the machines in the distance and we’d be forced to pick another route. 

The going was slow, forced to make a detour every few minutes, but we were zigzagging our way towards the base. We searched for survivors where we could, ducking through people’s houses to help us stay out of sight. We came across more bodies than living people and some of those that were alive were beyond help. We came across some more scattered survivors though and persuaded them to come with us. It felt good, like I was helping to build something, the start of this resistance I was planning. I wasn’t sure what we would find at the base though. It worried me that I might be leading them into a worse hell than the one they’d just come out of and I couldn’t risk using the radio to try and contact the base. Then one of our scouts signalled to us that our goal was up ahead. I hurried forward to get a look but I already started hearing the gunshots before I saw it. 

I couldn’t see much of the base when we got there, wasn’t much to see at all. We saw a ramp leading down to a big metal shutter, above it someone had set up a couple of mounted turrets that were cutting down anything that tried to get close. Most of the base was underground we’d been told but it looked like some soldiers had been left topside to hold this entrance against any invaders. 

The Reaper forces were throwing themselves at the door, but the mounted turrets were picking them off easily. It seemed odd to see the Reapers fighting like this. They had to see the attack was hopeless, not one of them even got close to the base but they kept throwing husks at it. It seems the Reapers don’t care at all about their troops; they weren’t soldiers to them just cannon fodder or tools. 

Our main concern was not being blown away by the guns when we tried to get close ourselves. We were still some distance away and the soldiers were firing at anything that moved, if we went out there we might not fare much better than the Husks. The others yelled at the soldiers, trying to get their attention but it was no use, they couldn’t hear us over the noise of the guns and the shrieks of the enemy. 

Maria grabbed my shoulder to get my attention and passed me a flare gun. First flare didn’t get noticed either, but I aimed the second so close to them it nearly singed their eyebrows. That got their attention and they finally spotted our group waving their arms and yelling themselves hoarse. As I saw the main doors open I knew we had to move so I grabbed Daniels and started making a run for the base. A few stray shots came my way; clearly the Reapers had brought other troops than Husks. Some of us took a bit of fire but we ploughed straight on, not stopping until we piled through the entrance and into the base.

When we made it inside we did think we were safe, all we could think of was getting some rest, time to take stock y’know? In truth it felt more like a cave than a military base not that we were feeling particularly fussy at this stage. Ahead of us stretched a long passageway carved into the earth, the walls were jagged bare rock barely lit by the feeble and often flickering strip lights set at intervals along the corridor. So there we were, about thirty of us by that point, filthy from the crawl through the streets with several of us bleeding from wounds we’d taken to get here. Standing in front of us was some lieutenant in shiny armour with about half a dozen soldiers all with their weapons raised at us.

“State your name and rank.” The lieutenant called out.

“David Anderson, Admiral, former Alliance representative on the Council.” 

Yeah I may have left out that part; I used to have a seat on the Council myself to represent humanity as part of the galactic community. I resigned when the other Councillors refused to take my warnings about the Reapers seriously. Hell when I tried to push them to investigate they blocked me at every turn, they held meetings without me and basically shut me out. I got so tired of all the political bull, of not being able to get anything done that I left Udina in charge and went back to Earth to try and get us ready. Point was this lieutenant damn well knew who I was, most humans did and standing on ceremony or protocol wasn’t gunna help us win this war any faster.

“I need to speak to General Coburg immediately.”

“Sorry sir, standing orders are to take all survivors that arrive for processing and reassignment to roles of tactical value. Besides he’s not seeing anyone at the moment.”

“I think he might make an exception in this case.”

“I was specifically ordered to allow no exceptions. You have to go through processing,” he said but hesitated when he saw the look on my face.

“Look I’ll have your friends sent to the Med Bay for treatment before processing sir but that’s the best I can do.”

I was about to make it an order when I realized that his men weren’t in uniform, they were just civilian militia. The lieutenants uniform wasn’t Alliance either but, exhausted as I was I couldn’t make out any insignia. Stymied I decided that I’d make do with what I could get for the time being.

“I want to see the General as soon as he becomes available.”

We were led away down the endless corridor that took us further and further down beneath the city. Eventually we arrived in a large underground cavern, packed with hundreds of refugees all doing their best to make themselves at home in these cold, cramped, uncomfortable conditions. I had a brief look around before I was hurried into a small office for ‘processing’ which was just as pointless as I’d expected it to be. Just a bunch of forms to fill out before being shown to our ‘temporary accommodation’ which was just as depressing as I’d expected it to be. Not that we had any complaints given the tragedy of what had happened today. 

I’m lying on a bunk right now surrounded by dozens of others in similar sleeping arrangements (to be honest I was one of the lucky ones, there’s crowds of people sleeping on the floor). Not sure if there’s still guards outside the door but I think there might be. Tomorrow I’ll have to sort some things out with the guy in charge.


	5. Log 4

Log 4

Date: 1ST OCT 2186

Location: VANCOUVER, CANADA

The next day I was finally permitted to see the general. As I was being escorted to the main command centre, I saw enough of the base to get a rough idea of its structure. There are three main corridors that lead to the surface (we’d come in through one of these when we arrived). These slope steeply downwards so that they converge at lowest level of the bunker. As I had already seen that area was a mess of makeshift barracks and mess halls as well as a sick bay and a main reception area. Everything you’d expect for housing a large number of people in fact. In the centre of all this were elevators that went up to the next level and beyond. 

The second level was reserved for general utility rooms, mainly supply stores and armouries as well as the communications room. On the top level there was a main command centre of sorts and a handful of private offices. Despite being the highest point in the complex there was no direct surface access for that part of the base. For security reasons the only way to access that area was from the lower levels via the elevators. Essentially it meant that if the base was compromised the command centre was the final fallback position (although if it ever came to that we’d be trapped and facing a fight to the death). One of the escort guards said he avoided going up there whenever possible. Apparently he didn’t like the ‘noise’ up there but wouldn’t explain what he meant.

The operations room itself was clearly set up in some old basement or bunker that was far enough underground to be safe from orbital bombardment. The room was strewn with equipment; mainly data feeds and monitors showing the view from the cameras outside the compound. I glanced at a radar map; it looked like two of the smaller Reapers had landed nearby with a third further away to the north. Another screen showed more Husks throwing themselves at the entrance but they were being held at bay for the moment. 

I recognized General Coberg from the moment I saw him, his face triggering memories that hadn’t registered when his name had come up. It all came back to me in an instant, the broad shoulders, the dark brown hair only just starting to go grey in places (I envied that slightly given he had a had a few years on me) to say nothing of the expression he wore. His features were the same as I’d ever seen them (even during celebrations) set and determined, his broken nose still pushed slightly to one side following an altercation with a rival officer. For some reason he was dressed in the full official dress uniform of the NASDF (the sort of thing normally only used on parades and formal receptions). It certainly made him stand out of the crowd (it actually looked fairly impressive) but it seemed odd given the circumstances.

He was the regional director of the North American States Defence Force. Like most other nations the NAS maintained its own standing army, not directly affiliated with the Alliance as a last fading sign of their independence. Of these Earth based militaries the NASDF was unusually large (most nation specific militaries had been scaled back significantly since the creation of the Alliance). In many ways it was final reminder of America’s former power during the 20th and 21st centuries. 

I’d only met the man on a handful of occasions (mostly award ceremonies as I recall) but I couldn’t deny he’d made an impression. Amongst military circles he had a reputation for strategic prowess and commanding an impressive degree of loyalty from his men. He was often considered directly responsible for the NASDF’s notable training and discipline (particularly noteworthy given that Earth militaries rarely see any real action). 

Quite the resume but unfortunately he was also considered to be a very difficult man to work with as an equal. He was often described by colleagues as a big fish in a small pond. A person with the talent and strength of personality to land a major position within the Alliance that instead chosen a smaller playground, with less competition. I realized his presence as base commander might make it difficult to establish myself as the leader of a resistance movement. Legally speaking all Earth based militaries are obliged to assist the Alliance in the event of a threat to the homeworld but this would be the first time that law had ever been called upon.

“General Coberg,” I said by way of announcing myself.

“I’m Admiral Anderson, we spoke briefly on the radio yesterday.”

“Admiral Anderson,” he repeated slowly, seemingly using the time to take the measure of me.

“Yes I know who you are Admiral. I take it there weren’t any ships available to carry you away?”

Well that cleared up the question of whether he was going make this difficult or not. Still I supposed I had to try and see his point of view. I might have stayed behind but most of the Alliance had retreated from the system (those that were able to at least).

“General I’m exactly where I want to be at the moment, right in the middle of this fight. I’m afraid I’ll be sticking around here until we drive out the Reapers.”

“Reapers? Those things that Commander- uh whatshisname kept going on about a couple years back?”

To be honest I almost cracked a smile at that. Pretending not to know the name of the most famous soldier in human history was very much Coberg’s style. More likely he was better informed than most, taking care to learn all the facts before dismissing the theory out of hand (at least publicly). Still, we didn’t really have time for such games at the moment.

“Commander Shepard? Yes those ‘things’. You might want to go back over everything he said about them when you have a minute to yourself. In the meantime what’s the situation out there?”

“We’ve established this base and a kill zone around the compound. Anything tries to get through, we tear it apart but we’ve had limited success in getting scouting parties out and into the city. From the few reports we are receiving; the initial attack focused on the space port and the Alliance Command Centre. They were both were obliterated in the first attack. Then they began landing their ground troops focusing on the perimeter of the city to cut off any avenues of escape. The big ones flew off after shooting up half of the city. Smaller ones are still hanging around, targeting water mains and the energy grid and so on.”

“So they’re sealing off the city and destroying basic infrastructure,” I summarized.

“Probably to make us surrender to their Harvest.”

“Harvest? What the hell’s that?” 

“Doesn’t matter right now. Is there any way we can get the civilians here safely out of the city?”

“Not easily. The space port and harbour where you came from have been overrun now so we can’t get out by air or sea. Not that it would’ve been easy in full view of those death machines in any case. What we need is a clear strategy on how we can destroy those ships without committing too many valuable assets at this stage.”

“All things considered General I think our efforts would be better spent getting people out of the line of fire. But If you’re asking for my advice on how to fight these things, that’s simple. Throw everything you have at them General and then throw some more. What assets do we have left in play?”

“We’re building up our forces at this base all the time. The enemy outnumber us but we appear to have superiority in firepower; at least on the ground. These Husk things are unarmed so they’re easy pickings. Meanwhile we also have several Mako’s stored in this bunker, they’ll serve as the brunt of my attack force on these ‘Reapers’ as you call them. Once we’ve brought them down we can begin sending out squads to clear areas and take back the city.”

“I’d say you’re seriously underestimating your enemy general. It will take a lot more than a few tanks to take down a Reaper. What else do we have of use?”

“Well we can get you and everyone else coming in armed up easily enough. We’ve no shortage of small arms, shield barriers or armour so we’ll get you all kitted out. We’ve got a ton of explosives, enough to level the compound if we had to. Oh and we’ve got a Quantum Entanglement device as well, not that it’s much good to us now.”

“There’s also the-“one of the officers started to say but he was suddenly cut off by a deafening noise that drowned out all others sounds. I found it hard to even think until it finally ceased, even the room seemed to shake slightly.

“What was that?” I asked turning my head in every direction in an effort to locate the source. I realized I was practically shouting, the noise (whatever it was) had left me deafened.

“One of the damn machines,” Coberg shouted back before taking some time to collect himself. 

“The Reapers keep doing that every few hours,” the nearest officer explained. 

“The lower levels are deep enough underground to be less affected but we get the worst of it up here.”

“Great,” I said while still shaking my head in an effort to clear the ringing in my eyes.

“So what was that other thing your officer was about to tell me?”

“That’s classified.”

The General said, glowering down out the officer that had brought it up. From the look on his face it was pretty clear I wouldn’t get anywhere asking about his ‘Classified’ toy but something else had caught my interest anyway.

“Fair enough. Tell me more about this entanglement device instead. Can you give me access?”

“What for?”

“To get some news from off world. Try and get an idea of the larger picture out there.”

Quantum Entanglement devices are a special type of comms system that can be used to send instant and untraceable messages. Don’t ask me how it works (the technology is well beyond me, all I know is it involves particle physics). But what I do know is that they’re incredibly rare and each one is only linked to a single location. They’re also the only safe means of communication we have left (in fact I had pushed for greater use of the technology after I first heard about it). Every time you use a regular radio you’re running the risk of alerting the Reapers to your location. Besides I suspect the Reapers will soon destroy all of our comm buoys in orbit. Once they do that the QEC will be the only thing we have left capable of off-world communication.

“If I were you I’d spend more time focusing on the smaller picture Admiral. This planet, this city, this bunker, that’s what concerns me at the moment.”

Hard to argue with his priorities but having more intel could only improve our odds of survival.

“I understand General but we all need to stand together in this fight. If the Alliance learns anything new about the Reapers we need to know about it.”

“Alright. Well look if you wanna waste your time talking to Udina be my guest. Never could stand politicians myself though. Its one of the reasons I never joined the Alliance, too much politics involved.”

So I could use it to contact Udina if the General was to be believed. That probably meant it was a link to the Citadel. Afterall the man succeeded me as humanity’s representative on the Council and that’s where the Council members are normally stationed. Just like Coberg suggested Udina is a political animal. His pompous attitude tends to get on your nerves at times but right now, probably for the first time, I was looking forward to speaking with him. It was time to find out what was going on.


	6. Log 5

Log 5

Date: 3RD OCT 2186

Location: UNNAMED BUNKER, VANCOUVER, CANADA

Predictably Udina wasn’t available when I tried to reach him yesterday. I was told that he and the rest of the Council were tied up in ‘emergency meetings’. It didn’t take a genius to work out that they were busy with the war. I’d assumed any news from Earth would be top priority but who knows how badly other worlds have been affected? To be honest I don’t see how it can be much worse than it is here but it’s frustrating not to know. With all other communications cut off this QEC feels like a delicate strand of spider’s web. Our last surviving link with the outside galaxy.

I finally got to speak with Udina the day after my meeting with the general. From the moment his hologram appeared in front of me I could see the anger and horror in his eyes. This wasn’t the same man that had advised me for years while I was a Council Representative. Back in those days Udina had a tendency to be arrogant, demanding and abrasive. I always felt he placed reputation above all other concerns. 

Don’t get me wrong, he had his merits as well. He’d certainly been useful when I was on the Council; one thing you could say about Udina is he always knew how to get things done and his methods were undoubtedly effective. The trouble most people had with the man is that his work fed his reputation and his reputation fed his work. The more he looked after one the more the other looked after itself and no one (not even me) was quite sure which Udina was more concerned with. Certainly he had never been forced to chose between them. To Udina the politically wise decision was always the right decision and he seemed to show no doubt in his conviction that he was doing the right thing.

In any case over the years we’d gone from bitter rivals to having a grudging respect for one another’s abilities. Not that we were ever what you would call friends but in a professional capacity I probably knew him better than anyone else. Most people thought of him as just another bureaucratic politician. The butt of endless jokes from those who only had brief dealings with him I’d wager. Most people never got to see that his attitude was just part of his determination. It made him worry constantly at every little thing that might embarrass our species in front of the galactic community (don’t get me wrong there were still days when I felt like punching him again). 

“Anderson I’m glad to see you’re not hurt given the circumstances. I apologize for not seeing you sooner but Shepard’s arrival kept me busy for some time.”

“He made it to the Citadel? Was he able to secure any help for Earth from the Council?”

Udina sighed, already looking weary.

“Normally I would advise leaving the diplomacy to me instead of a common soldier but I must admit I wasn’t making much headway with the Council. Shepard’s arrival served as a catalyst that got things moving again.”

“That’s sounds like progress.”

“Perhaps. The Council itself stonewalled both Shepard and myself. They’re too concerned with their own precious territories to join us in a united effort against the Reapers.”

“But you said things are moving forward?”

“We decided to bypass the Council Representatives and speak directly to the leadership of each race. Commander Shepard will be chairing a war summit between them assuming he can extract the Turian Primarch from their homeworld.”

“Palaven?” I asked as my blood ran cold.

“The Reapers have already reached it?”

Udina nodded slowly.

“As I understand it the Turians were able to destroy several Reaper capital ships before they reached the planet and begun deploying ground troops. The attack on Earth was more severe but they have still suffered heavy losses.”

It was a major blow to be told that. The Turians commanded one of the strongest, most powerful fleets in the galaxy. Alongside the Alliance (and even more so than us) they kept Citadel space secure. It seemed the Reapers were attempting to devastate the most militaristic races in the galaxy (this even extended to their first target; the Batarians). It was frightening that they could advance so quickly and so recklessly. Still I took some comfort in hearing that Asari space was still safe for now. While the Turians had the larger fleet, the Asari had the most sophisticated technology of any Council race. It seemed plausible they might be strong enough to make the enemy pause, at least momentarily.

“Do we know how the Reapers were able to penetrate our defenses so easily?”

“Our strategic analysts have been piecing together what happened for the past two days. From what I understand they bypassed the Sixth and Seventh fleets entirely before attacking Arcturus where Hackett and his fleet were waiting,” Udina explained.

Some of that didn’t make much sense to me but I figured I’d be better off pouring through the data myself than getting it off Udina. Not a military man by nature, he was unlikely to have spotted some of the oddities in the Reaper strategy. Besides I had much more pressing questions to ask.

“What happened at the battle? Have you heard from Admiral Hackett since?”

“I’m told the battle was a disaster. The automated defenses of Arcturus Station were still offline thanks to the saboteurs, seriously weakening our defense. Hackett managed to retreat but he was forced to sacrifice the Second fleet to give the Third and the Fifth a chance to escape.”

He looked at me, pure fury radiating from his body with each word he spoke.

“The Second and Forth fleets were lost that day and Arcturus station was destroyed.”

Arcturus destroyed? I had expected as much given what the situation had been last I’d heard but it was still a gut wrenching blow. I’d known several of the ministers stationed there but it occurred to me how much worse it was for Udina. He had known all of them.

“I’m sorry.”

He nodded briefly, acknowledging my condolences but not even attempting to make a reply.

“With the station gone and Earth largely out of contact, the responsibility of leading humanity has fallen to me. Though Hackett will now lead all our military forces.”

“I know you’ll do everything you can to get us through this.”

“Hackett has officially declared the Sol system off limits to all Alliance vessels. I’m afraid we won’t be able to offer you or Earth any assistance at this time. It’s too dangerous for us to send in any more ships for the moment.”

“I understand.”

“There is one more thing but before I can tell you I need to impress upon you the need for absolute secrecy. You should discuss this with no one except myself, Commander Shepard and Admiral Hackett. Assuming you get the opportunity to speak to them again.” 

“You can count on that Udina. What’s this about?”

“Before Shepard departed the Sol system, Hackett ordered him to visit the Prothean Archives on Mars.”

“Mars? What for?”

“He met up with a specialist there, an expert in Prothean history. For the past several months she’d been assigned to looking through the archives for anything that might be related to the Reapers.”

“Months? I thought the Alliance were still denying their existence back then. Why the hell wasn’t I informed about any of this?”

“It seems the project was run privately by the Admiral. I had no idea this was going on until Shepard arrived on the Citadel.”

“I take it they found something.”

“A means to destroy the Reapers.”

I shook my head.

“That’s impossible.”

“You’re forgetting that you’re the one who makes impossible claims without any proof to back it up. You and Shepard at any rate.”

“You have proof?” I asked skeptically, still struggling to wrap my head around the idea that we might have stumbled across a solution.

“After a considerable amount of digging Dr T’Soni was successfully able to locate the blueprint for a Prothean superweapon. We believe they intended to use it to destroy all the Reapers simultaneously.”

“And we think that it will work?”

“It’s already clear that we won’t be able to destroy them by any other means at our disposal. Our scientists have studied the plans and I’m told that theoretically it is capable of producing enough energy to achieve that goal though we have yet to fully understand how it works.”

“Even so, we’ve had access to the Archives for as long as we’ve had the ability to travel though space. To find something now, after all this time?”

Udina straightened up and looked me straight in the eye.

“At the very least it has given me a goal to focus on. Levying enough resources to build this device and conscripting soldiers from the colonies to buy us enough time to complete the work. Before I heard of its existence, everything I did seemed....” 

‘Pointless’ I thought to myself. I can understand that well enough, being trapped down here. A slim hope, even a fool’s hope would give some meaning to our efforts to delay the Reaper’s victory.

“Yeah I hear you,” I said. “I’ll do the same down here on the ground. Try to hold off the Reapers as long as it takes to build this weapon.”

“Very good Admiral. Now you must excuse me, my schedule has a way of catching up to me these days.”

As ever he ended the call before I could say another word, typical Udina. At least he also sent through a data stream containing war updates for me to look through. In many ways reading through it was pointless (I was trapped on this planet and unable to help) but I was desperate for any news I could get. That being said, it didn’t exactly make for pleasant reading.

On Earth the Reapers were wiping out our satellites from orbit and burying our nuclear missile silos. Not that the nukes were much of a threat to our new robotic overlords. I figure they just didn’t want us blowing ourselves up before they were ready to harvest us. Our colonies were being hit opportunistically by the Reapers, but the damage was minimal so far. Elsewhere the news was just as grim. The Batarians had been hit first and taken the brunt of the initial assault. Their homeworld of Khar’shan was swiftly occupied and then fell into a total communications blackout, followed swiftly by the rest of their empire. The Turians were still clinging on to some parts of their home system but that was more because sheer bloody minded stubbornness than from military victories.

There was too much in the reports to write about it all here but there was one thing that did catch my eye. Apparently there’s another faction in this war: Cerberus. Originally I had always assumed that they would end up working with us if the Reapers arrived, just as they had supported Shepard’s efforts against them. It made me deeply uncomfortable to consider them as allies (not that the end of days gives you much choice) but it looked like it wasn’t going to be an issue. 

Instead of joining the fight against extinction the Illusive Man had revealed a different agenda; take the Prothean weapon for themselves and use it to try and control the Reapers. Obviously the sheer number of potential problems that this could raise is staggering. We don’t know if its possible, or even if it is whether or not the Reapers could be controlled long term (to say nothing of the morals of the man that would be controlling them). We’ve made some (not many) attempts to reason with them, to suggest that now is the time to regain control of the situation, not pursue insane goals but it’s been a waste of time. With our goals irreconcilable, they’ve become a separate faction to both the Council and the Reapers. A faction quite prepared to sabotage our own efforts in order to get control of the superweapon for themselves.

Does the Illusive Man’s really believe he can control the Reapers? Hard to say given we don’t know enough about him to accurately predict his actions. I’ve seen his file and all in contains is a picture of a virtual projection of him (possibly fake), a recording of his voice from the projection (also possibly fake), his “name” (definitely fake) and a list of missions he may (or may not) have ordered. The only thing we can say for certain is that he is a smoker (because that detail is so obscure even he wouldn’t fake it). For a major criminal it’s an absurdly thin file and almost everything in it is based on supposition and guesswork. 

The thing about Cerberus is that they are the wild card in this fight. They’re unpredictable, know us much better than the Reapers do and they’ve gotten their hands on a whole bunch of Reaper tech to make themselves more of a threat to all sides. According to Shepard the Cerberus soldiers he fought looked more like husks than humans. It seems the Illusive Man has being using Reaper tech in his attempts to create super soldiers. 

According to the reports when the Alliance captured some of these soldiers they turned out to be civilians from Eden Prime with no obvious connection to Cerberus at all. We think they may have been grabbed off the streets and implanted with control chips to ensure their loyalty. An easy means by which to replenish their ranks. What worries me is that the chaos here on Earth might give them a chance to make even more, threatening our efforts to keep the population safe. By all accounts these things are more machine than human now, incapable of free will and a danger to us all. 

Having lost so much time, studying reports and looking at the war beyond Earth I turned my attention back to lending a hand where I could. Everyone is busy here; building up barricades, training civilians in combat or out scouting the perimeter watching for the next attack. It’s funny how something like this brings people together and helps them focus on the task. All normal life has stopped, there’s no nine to five so most people just go and see what they can do to help and there’s always more things to be done in a time and place like this. 

But unfortunately while we’re mostly pulling together there’s an ugly side to things as well. We’re a mostly human population here (it is Earth afterall)with an entirely human military running the base (the Alliance is human recruits only as is the NASDF) but there are still some aliens living here too and they tend to have the hardest time of it. I saw this today when two Alliance recruits had cornered a Salarian for some reason. He was clearly distressed, almost freaking out as one of them was gripping one of the two fleshy growths (referred to as ‘horns’ by the Salarians) on his head. Salarians hate this being done to them, it was a common tactic of the Krogan after the Genophage to grab both and rip them apart, killing the victim. Doubtless the guards had little idea but what they were doing was tantamount to torture. I quickly moved in, my hand closing around the wrist of the arm that was holding the Salarian.

“Let go of him now or I will have you court martialed, is that clear?”

The soldier let him go and turned to face me.

“Sir, we caught him messing around with our communications equipment.”

I turned to the Salarian, his skin was a deep brown with some slighter stripes on his right horn. He looked to be about twenty (which roughly equates to middle age in his species) and was still wearing a very nervous expression on his face.

“What’s your name son?”

“Xi Chan, I used to be an electrical engineer before all this started.”

“And is it true you were interfering with our systems?”

“I was just trying to boost its output to see if I could contact survivors further afield. I thought my efforts might be appreciated.”

“He’s lying sir, he could’ve been doing anything to that equipment. He might even be indoctrinated; afterall everyone says the Salarians are the sneakiest race in the galaxy.”

“That’s enough now, you sound like a pair of paranoid Krogan. The Salarians are our allies, just like everyone else on the Council and we are not going to start turning on our own. As for you,” I said turning my attention back to Chan. “You need to get proper authorization before you start messing around with Alliance equipment.”

“I’m sorry sir, I overheard some soldiers discussing the problem so I looked into it. I meant to talk to someone about it but I just got distracted working on it, I’m always doing that. Sorry.”

“Well I don’t want you working on that radio any more.”

“I was just trying to help.”

“I need you to work on our Quantum Entanglement Communicator, that’s the priority right now. Under suitable supervision of course” 

“I trust you understand the basic principals?” I added as I watched his face light up with enthusiasm at the prospect.

“You have a QEC here? That’d be much more effective for long distance communication than these radios. Of course it depends where the corresponding entangled particles are being held. I wonder if-”

He trailed off as he headed away. I hoped I’d done the right thing in letting him have access but it was a risk I felt we needed to take. Communication was the key to getting us back into this fight, if we could talk to each other, share information on the Reapers we might give other bases like this one a better chance (assuming there are any other bases still out there).

For the rest of the day I just focused on the tasks I was assigned. I’m happy enough to let the general find me things to do for the time being, as long as it’s useful work and I’m able to get involved with the planning and strategizing. They haven’t discussed their crazy plan to attack the Reapers with me again yet but I’m involved in meetings about the defense of the base and so on. I lend my ideas where I can but in the face of such a powerful enemy it’s hard to know what to suggest. In a way it bothers me that we’ve been able to hold out against the Reapers so effectively (so far our defenses haven’t really even been tested). I’ve raised my concerns with the officers here but they have quickly brushed them aside. They just don’t want to hear it, frankly I don’t blame them. 

Later in the afternoon I managed to get some time on one of the radio’s. All bad news at first but I found a signal from a couple of soldiers still alive but pinned down by enemy fire. I cast around on the different frequencies until I found a group of civilians nearby. With me giving advice via the radio they set off a distraction that gave the pinned soldiers a chance. They managed to overwhelm their attackers and led the civilians back here. I abandoned the radio so I could watch their arrival. Every life saved feels like a victory in all of this chaos.

Well that’s all my news for today; the general has called a big meeting tomorrow to discuss the plan to attack the Reapers. Hopefully I’ll be able to call it off that nonsense. The Reapers have a massive occupying force; our entire armada couldn’t defeat them. We should be focusing on protecting who we can, not throwing ourselves at an enemy we can’t stop. That’s my mission now; to save as many lives as I can until help arrives. I can only pray it comes soon.


	7. Log 6

Log 6

Date: 4TH SEPT 2186

Location: UNNAMED BUNKER, VANCOUVER, CANADA

The meeting went exactly as I feared it might. To be honest I hate going up to the operations center at the best of times and this certainly wasn’t one of them. The Reapers are still blaring away like fog horns up above us every day. In fact if anything it’s gotten more frequent, a constant reminder of the occupation on the surface (I’m sure the Reapers could write a book on psychological warfare if they were inclined to). There have been days when I came down from the top level with a headache so bad it was like an elephant trampling on my skull. Not that I can really make too much of a fuss. Compared to what’s going on outside it’s a minor complaint. 

As I headed in, the general was already waiting at the table along with a NASDF military Colonel and several Alliance captains whose ships had been destroyed even before they could reach them. I hadn’t had a chance to meet most of the leadership in the base but I recognized Alexander Chernov, an old shipmate of mine now serving as captain of the SSV Stockholm. I guess if he was here that meant the ship was destroyed but I was glad to see Alex was OK. 

I greeted the room and then took a seat opposite the General but he was turned away from me looking at a screen on the far side of the room. When he eventually ‘noticed’ my arrival he asked his subordinate, Colonel Travis to fill me in. Determined as I was not to get dragged into a pointless confrontation with the General I ignored the implied insult and turned my attention to the Colonel. She was slightly younger than I would have expected (early 40’s at a guess) with blonde hair that was cut to shoulder length. In contrast to the General’s dress uniform she wore the standard urban camouflage gear of the NASDF.

“What’s the situation?”

“That’s the problem sir, we don’t know. Our satellites and Comm Buoys have all been destroyed by the Reapers and our only quantum entanglement device links to the Citadel.”

“So what intel do we have Colonel?” 

“Our only source of information right now is word of mouth from the people we take in sir. We’re doing our best to collate the various reports into a picture of the outside world.” 

I was aghast at the news; I’d stayed behind to lead a global resistance on earth but I couldn’t get word from anyone more than a few miles away! Clearly my efforts would have to be on a far smaller scale than I had originally hoped. Still with no other options open to me I forced myself to focus on the task at hand. Like almost all resistance movements throughout history we would have to do the best we could with the resources we had, regardless of the circumstances.

“Very well, brief me on whatever we’ve got.”

“Yes sir. From what we’ve learned we’re now the only military base in the city still holding out against the Reapers. We were forced to evacuate Major Harrison and his men from their position near Richmond, about 5 klicks south of here last night. That was the last base out there.”

“Why isn’t the Major joining us for this briefing?”

“His unit suffered heavy casualties during the evacuation and he himself was injured. He’s being treated in the infirmary, I’m afraid they haven’t been able to tell us if he’ll make it.”

“We’ll have to hope that he will. Especially if we’re all that’s left to oppose the Reapers in this area.”

“We’re not exactly the only ones still fighting. All the other bases have fallen but we’re still getting reports of open rioting and occupation resistance in several areas. Moreover many of our own forces weren’t able to evacuate fast enough and are currently engaged in fighting behind enemy lines. Most of the city is now a battleground.”

“Most of the city?”

“Our scouts report the Reapers have begun methodically clearing the city block by block. So far they’ve managed to secure approximately 30% of the city under their complete control.”

“Is our position here secure? How long will this offensive take to reach us?”

“From what we’ve seen of the Reaper forces they don’t have the numbers in this area to break through our defenses, not yet at least. We have to focus on protecting as many people as possible so the Reapers can’t turn them into soldiers to throw against us.”

“That’s certainly true enough. But that said don’t underestimate the Reapers Colonel, we’ve only just begun to see what they can throw at us.”

“They have begun sending a new type of soldier at us that’s proving highly effective.” She admitted.

I frowned. “What can you tell me about this new type?”

She showed me a picture of the latest monstrosity the Reapers had come up with. It was humanoid in shape but had spiky bone ridges on its forehead and stood about seven feet tall. It took me awhile before I realized I was looking at one of the first Turians to be converted into a Reaper foot soldier. I was told that these new troops seemed to serve as commanders to the rest of the Reaper ground forces; coordinating their assault. They were armed with surgically attached assault rifles and were proving highly effective in leading the Husks and “Cannibals” (What we’ve started calling the creatures that I encountered on my first day. According to DNA tests run on the Citadel they’re actually mutated Batarians captured from the Reaper conquest of Khar’shan). 

“So what are we doing about these err new Turian Reaper units?”

“The men have taken to calling them ‘Marauders’ sir. As they seem to act as leaders for the other Reaper ground forces we’re marking them as priority targets. We’ve begun deploying snipers to areas we’re expecting the Reapers to target. The general has put a thousand credit bounty on every proven Marauder kill.”

I frowned, mildly disturbed by the implications

“You might get a few mercs helping us that way general but in my experience you get far too many kids gunning for glory by trying something like that. This isn’t Illium or Omega, most of the people out there have never even held a gun in their lives before today. And the war going on, on the streets out there is no place for the inexperienced.”

“As I understand it, Admiral the Reapers will kill civilians whether they’re holding a gun or not,” Coberg stated flatly before turning his attention back to the monitors.

I fell silent at that remark. He had a point but it still didn’t sit well with me encouraging teenagers to go out and play trainee assassin. Shrugging it off for the time being I turned back to the Colonel.

“Alright what about outside the city limits, have we received any refugees from that far afield?”

“I don’t think we’ve had anyone come in from the North or East of the city but the Reapers have a strong presence in that area so it’s not that surprising. We’ve received brief radio communications from temporary bases on the Vancouver and Graham Islands just off the coast. Reaper forces have landed on the southern shores and are fighting their way north. Most of the bases we heard from reported being under siege before we lost the signal.”

“Is there any way that we can evacuate those islands?”

“The general is working on something he thinks will relieve the pressure on those bases.”

“We’ll get to the general’s plan in a moment. You haven’t mentioned anything to the south. What’s happening on the Western Seaboard?”

“That’s a little more complicated sir. We don’t have much intel I’m afraid. We know the Reapers have occupied Portland and Seattle and we were receiving a steady stream of refugees from the city until about five hours ago. Since then we’ve heard nothing. I’ll just check the reports again now…” She accessed her PDA and started scrolling through it. When she accessed the latest report I could see the fear in her eyes before she even said a word.

“I don’t understand… why would they?”

“What’s happened Colonel?”

“We’ve just received a report; eye witnesses are claiming that Seattle has been destroyed. The entire city is just… gone sir.”

I closed my eyes; Seattle had a population of just under nine hundred thousand. Hopefully some would have fled the city before the destruction but... not nearly enough. When I turned my attention back to the room I could see the haunted looks on the faces of my colleagues.

“It makes no sense; why would they destroy a city they already control. We need to get these reports verified they must be exaggerated.”

I glanced at the PDA in her hand. 

“According to your report that intel was verified with five separate groups before it was sent to us. We have to assume it is correct.”

“But why would they- “

She was in shock, hardly a surprise given the circumstances but she needed to be made aware of exactly what we were up against. Hell they _all_ did.

“The Reapers intend to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy and every action they make is carefully calculated towards helping them achieve that goal,” I explained.

“They don’t care about capturing territory or forcing our surrender. Destroying Seattle helps the Reapers prevent civilians from escaping north from the rest of the major cities on the Western Seaboard. That makes it easier for them to harvest the population. I know it’s not easy to accept, but we’ll be hearing a lot more bad news before this war is over. Focus on the living who still need our help, remember your training and you’ll have as much chance as any of us of making it out alive.”

The general finally turned his attention back to the meeting. “Nice speech. Now if we’re all up to date, perhaps we can start discussing how to destroy these ‘Reapers’.”

“You can’t. We need to focus on- “

“Yes, thank you for your opinion Admiral but I will decide where to focus our efforts. Colonel how many of these things are still within the city?”

“Three sir, the others took off and headed south yesterday.”

“You see? There’s only a handful left to contend with.”

“It took several fleets to bring down Sovereign and that was just one Reaper.”

“That was the one that attacked the Citadel a few years back? As I recall the reports claim it was what? Two kilometers in length?”

“That’s right, but-”

“Colonel, how large are the ones currently in the city?”

“Less than two hundred meters sir.”

“Then these little ones don’t seem quite as much of a threat to me Admiral. I never have paid much attention to ship design, not really relevant in my line of work but even _I_ know that size and weight matter in these cases. We have a plan to use our Makos to ambush them and eliminate them one by one.”

I sighed, however simplistically he had put it he did still have a point. Ship weight was a good indicator of strength as it gave a good indication of the level of gun recoil it was rated to handle (a serious consideration in space). Still I had considerable doubts, Reaper technology is far in advance of anything we have.

“How many Makos do you have for the assault?”

“Fifteen plus our heavy artillery pieces that will be able to cause some more serious damage. I’m planning to use three of them as a distraction to draw the Reapers into the trap. According to our calculations if we hit the targets individually with that level of firepower, it will be enough to destroy them.”

I paused for a moment before replying, despite growing tired for the General’s constant rhetoric I had to admit he had a keen strategic mind. 

“It’s not a bad plan but I’m guessing there’s not much margin for error, how many Makos have to maintain bombardment of one of the smaller Reapers- “

“Destroyers sir” The colonel interrupted.

“Destroyers? Fitting enough I guess. How many Mako’s will it take to bring down one of the Destroyers then?”

“We calculate at least ten minimum.”

“And you’re sure of those calculations?”

“They’re based on data sent by the Citadel sir. Apparently the Turians managed to gather some intel about a Destroyer they shot down.”

“Well... it _might_ work but it could also go horribly wrong. If there’s a problem on the day those tanks don’t have the maneuverability to evade enemy fire. The enemy will be able to pick them off like fish in a barrel. Last time I was here it was mentioned you have another weapon available? Could it be used as a contingency?”

“That weapon remains classified and you shouldn’t even know about it. It is only to be deployed when the Reapers gather in sufficient numbers to warrant its use.”

“So you’re already preparing to the retaliation of this plan? You’re waiting for more Reapers swoop in to eliminate all resistance thanks to us killing several of them?”

“That’s right, we’ll deal them a heavy blow for trying to invade our planet.”

“And what happens general when the next wave arrives after that? And the next? They’ll wipe out your weapon along with the entire city if they think we’re really challenging them.”

“And your alternative would be?”

“Focus on protecting civilians, not fighting Reapers. We can’t win this war, not without help. We have to hold out here, save as many lives as we can and try to make sure there’s still an Earth left once this war’s over.”

Looking around the room I could already see I was in the minority this time. Colonel Travis had a somewhat thoughtful expression but several of the other officers looked mutinous. They were in the mood for revenge right now not survival and the General was leading them by their hearts. He didn’t even try to hide his disgust.

“And what are we holding out for, Admiral? The Alliance abandoned this entire system so now the Earth militaries stand alone. If we want to get rid of these machines we have to kill them ourselves. Few occupations of human territory have ever been maintained for long.”

“You’re deluding yourself General, the Reapers are a threat unlike any we’ve ever faced before and they have plenty of practice in subduing populations. Our only hope is to hold out until Commander Shepard can bring the fleets of the Council to Earth and kick out the Reapers for good.”

“Bullshit, you’re the one who’s delusional Admiral. Putting all your faith in that so-called ‘hero’ that just so happens to be a member of a goddamn terrorist organization! Frankly I have more faith in my weapons.”

“That’s crossing the line, Shepard’s done more to protect humanity than you’ll ever know.”

“You’re forgetting that this is my base Councilor. I’m sure you’re used to relying on the Council up on the Citadel to pull your boots out of the fire when things get tough. But down here, on my base, I decide how we fight this war.”

“If you’ve no intention of listening to my advise then you don’t need me here,” I said formally as I stood up and started to walk away.

“Best of luck with your mission general.” 

He would certainly need that luck and possibly a miracle in order to pull off what he was planning. It was just about conceivable that Coberg would manage to pull this thing off but the if any detail of the plan went wrong it would rapidly snowball into a catastrophy. 

I had briefly considered staying to argue my case but looking around the room I had known it was a lost cause. I knew some of the ship captains stationed here but the rest are army personnel who’ve worked under the General for years. They’re used to obeying his orders and worse they’re out for blood as payback for the invasion. Don’t get my wrong, I wanted revenge against the metal bastards as much as anybody. But even with the deaths and the evacuations I figured there still had to be at least three hundred thousand people living in this city. If we killed as many Reapers as Coberg intended it was those civilians that would bare the brunt of the retaliation. It seemed it would be my job to try and get at least some of them out of the line of fire.

Hopefully it was not a job I’d have to face alone and so after I left the meeting I went to the infirmary to check on Private Daniels and the other injured survivors I’d brought back from the Police Station on my first day. I was surprised to find Maria was down here too.

“Checking up on the troops?” I asked.

“Just making sure my officers are being looked after properly, they’re my men you understand? My responsibility.”

“You don’t have to explain it to me, how’s Daniels?”

“That useless lump you insisted we drag all the way here? He’s alright, very quiet though, spends most of his time sleeping.”

“Just getting some rest while I could.” I looked up to see Daniels approach and returned the salute he gave me. “Wanted to be fighting fit by the time you needed me for something. Just say the word and I’ll be there.”

“Shouldn’t you be taking your orders from the General, Private?”

“People around here seem to have forgotten that you’re the ranking officer in the base but I haven’t. Besides I owe you for saving my life.”

“It was Corporal Hetford that saved you, I just lent him a hand.”

“What happened to Hetford sir? They won’t let me see him.”

“I afraid he didn’t make it son. I’m not sure how much you remember but he was hurt pretty bad when the husks attacked us.” 

“What? Couldn’t, couldn’t you have done something sir? I mean-“

“There was nothing to be done Private. I’ll remember his face until the day I die alongside the faces of every man who ever died under my command but we have some work to do before we can start mourning.”

“Yes sir, sorry sir. What do you need me to do?”

“The General’s frozen me out of all major operations following the meeting earlier today. I need you to keep me up to date on what Coberg is up to.”

“Of course sir, where should I start?”

“If you’re feeling up to it go and report for duty with the military forces here. They’ll be suspicious of you at first because I brought you in but just make it clear your loyalty is with them and you support this crazy mission Coberg is planning. Don’t be afraid to imply that you think I’m a coward for not getting involved, the General should like that.”

“You want me helping the General sir? I thought that-”

“I need eyes and ears inside his operation. Can you do that for me?”

“I’ll do my best sir.”

“I know you will, dismissed Private.”

“What about me then?” Asked Maria.

“If you’re willing to help me out try talking to the civilians here, try and get a sense of their morale and what they think of the General.”

“That all?”

“Actually I need you to start working on an evacuation plan for the base too.”

“Evacuation? Are you saying we might not be safe here?”

“The General assumes we are but somehow I doubt the Reapers could take the entire planet and yet be completely thwarted by this one base.”

“Where are these people meant to go if we evacuate them? The whole city’s under occupation. The whole world even.”

“Right now the Reapers are only focusing on the major cities. If we can get people out into the country they might have a better chance of staying out of harm’s way.”

“Alright, I’ll look into it but it won’t be easy getting people out with those walking death machines still out there.”

“I’m working on that; just find us an exit. When the time comes we may have to leave in a hurry.”

“Fair enough then, Mr Alliance I’ll leave that part to you, almost makes my job look easy.”

“Mr Alliance huh? I’m flattered.”

“Don’t get too excited I call all you big Alliance types that.”

“Alright but is it Miss or Mrs Police Chief I should be calling you?”

She flashed me a brilliant smile and left just saying she’d leave me to wonder about that. I stared after her for a few moments questioning if I wanted to pursue this. I’d only met her twice but both times had been struck by her beauty and her strength in the face of all this death. With everyone else I could see the fear in their eyes, I could see they were struggling to hold on. She seemed completely fearless, driven only by a desire to help others. 

As usual at times like this my thoughts soon turned to Kahlee Sanders again. We weren’t together but she still meant a great deal to me, we’d just never been able to find the time for ourselves in all the madness of the last few years. But now I’m stuck on Earth, with no idea how long and Kahlee could be dead for all I knew. She is or was currently based at Grissom Academy station (a military school for people with special skills). I don’t know if the war will have reached that far yet or not. I hope she’s OK but I realize I’m going to put all thoughts of Maria out of my head. In another life we might have worked out but I can’t think about her while I’m still worrying if Kahlee’s alright. 

I’m not how future cycles will see this if things end up going that badly wrong. At the end of the day this is my record of the war and I’ll write it from my perspective. But if we fail and this is being read by some alien thousands of years in the future looking for ways to fight the Reapers just remember that life shouldn’t just stop, not even for them. You’ve got to find things to hold on to or you’ll go mad from despair. That cheery thought got me through the rest of the day. 

Tried to contact Udina again via the quantum entangler but he was unavailable and the General was keeping me out of strategic planning so I found myself at a loss for things to do. It’s a strange feeling being unable to help during a war. I wanted desperately to be doing anything to help, to take charge and start putting my own plans in place. But this was the General’s base and sticking to my principals had cost me. I don’t regret my decision even so the frustration of being stuck out of the loop is getting to me. Word is that tomorrow the General puts his plan into action. If this winds up being the last log entry you can assume it went badly.


	8. Log 7

Log 7

Date: 5TH OCT 2186

Location: ALLIANCE FALLBACK SHELTER, VANCOUVER, CANADA

I’m not sure where to begin. Looking back it’s hard to see why I didn’t just shoot the General the second he mentioned trying to attack those Destroyers. But that’s not really fair; as easy as it would be to blame this all on him I should’ve done more to prevent it myself. I can’t believe I had the arrogance to imagine anywhere could be safe once the Reapers arrived. If you’re reading this I guess you’re realizing I’m not great at writing journals. I keep skipping to the end so I’ll do it properly and start from the beginning. 

I was tense from the moment I woke up that morning. I knew what the General was going to try and part of me couldn’t help but hope he’d succeed. Luckily I still feared the worst so I’d arranged to meet Maria and Daniels early that day before the mission started. I was hoping they’d found out some intel so I could start working out how I would react to the situation. I was more than tired of being left in the dark.

“So what’ve you found?”

Maria started with “I may have found something. I’m not sure.”

“What is it?”

“I had my detectives start looking round and try to ask some questions without raising too much suspicion. At first we didn’t find much. The base has three main tunnels that lead out of the place, but if it came to an evacuation with the base under attack...”

“You’d be worried about being caught in one of the tunnels and trapped?”

“That’s part of it, aye but the worst part is when we get to the surface. Those Destroyer things have been levelling all the building surrounding the base. We’d be caught in the open.”

“You said you had something though?”

“Well don’t get your hopes up but we think the General might have a few ships still stashed away.”

“What would a ship hanger be doing in some random temporary underground base?”

“One of my officers asked about this place and it turns out it’s actually an old military bunker, well most of it anyway. They’ve broken through into other basements and collapsed buildings to expand it.”

I shook my head.

“That can’t be right. I would’ve been informed about another military base in Vancouver.”

“Oh it’s ancient and a bit of a secret apparently. Supposedly it was built after the First Contact war. Alliance brass got it into their heads that Earth could be invaded, but they didn’t want to worry anyone so they kept this place a secret. Crazy right?”

“Not if you were on Shanxi,” Despite the years that had passed, the memories of our brief war with the Turians were still with me. As the war was our first contact with an alien race and had swiftly lead to the occupation of the human colony of Shanxi I was hardly surprised the Alliance had reacted with a little paranoia. 

“OK so it’s an old military base, what makes you think there are any ships still here that can still fly?”

“We’ve learned the general’s been sending fuel and spare parts up to the old hanger.”

“Spare parts? Sounds like whatever it is might still be broken. Still its the best option I’ve heard so far. Any idea what’s in the hanger?”

“I’ve gotten hold of a list of some of the parts being sent there but I’m a police officer not a mechanic.”

I looked back at Daniels. 

“You were the mechanic for the Gunship where we found you right?”

“Yes sir, want me to take a look?”

I nodded and Maria passed him the list; he ran his eyes across it for a few moments before pointing to a particular item.

“There, that’s a battery pack for an Armadillo 290. That model never caught on, but it was employed at Shanxi.”

“I remember, damn birds had a tendency to fall out of the sky if you ran them for too long but they sure were fast.”

“Fast enough to get us past the Reapers?” Maria asked.

“I’m not sure about that, but it’s a start. Daniels, have any luck?”

“Yes sir, you’re looking at the newest base mechanic. General Coberg wants me with him during the mission. Says he needs a mechanic on hand in case there’s an issue with communications to the teams in the field.”

More likely he wants to keep an eye on the soldier I brought back with me I thought.

“That’s good, just be careful.”

“I also overheard the general talking about something called phase two and if it was in position?”

“Phase two? I’m not sure what that could be. What did he say about it.”

“They just confirmed the coordinates of it’s current position”

“Which was?”

“That’s the odd thing sir. If I heard him right it’s about two miles out to sea.”

I had Daniels read me out the coordinates but he was right whatever phase two was it was underwater apparently.

I put it aside for the moment so I could focus on the next job. I headed over to the operations center where the Colonel was currently in charge.

“Admiral? I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“I asked someone to look into the Quantum Entanglement Communicator. Do have any updates on how that project is going?”

“We have a small team working on it right now sir.”

“Good, then I want to speak to them as soon as possible.”

“Sir, isn’t the assault on the Destroyers our first priority at the moment?”

“Has the General requested I be involved in his assault?”

“Uh not exactly sir no.”

“Not exactly?”

“Um I think his exact words were he’d ask for a lapdance from an Elcor before he asked you for help sir.”

“Which is why my priorities are slightly different.”

“But you could help us, you have more experience with the Reapers.” 

I could see the doubts in her eyes, the hesitation. She didn’t want to go against the General but she worried I was right about this plan.

“I am going to help you if I can, I can promise you that. Now please, ask the techs to come see me about the entangler. It’s very important.”

“Thank you sir, I’ll see to it right away.”

I was told Xi Chan was being kept busy but he sent his ‘team’ to come meet with me. The team in question turned out to be a couple of kids, apparently they were training Cadets who specialized in this technology but I swear they were young enough to be in college.

“You wanted to see us, sir?”

“Yes, this technology is our only link to the rest of the galaxy which probably makes it the most important piece of tech we have right now.”

“We understand that sir.”

“We need to keep this out of enemy hands at all costs so I need to know how portable this technology is. Can we move it, or duplicate it elsewhere?”

“It wouldn’t be possible to duplicate this si-”

“Well we could probably reproduce the -”

“Slow down, now one of you explain.”

“Sorry sir. To be accurate we might be able to create another one but we wouldn’t be able to reach the stations entangled to this device.”

“Stations? As in plural? I thought we could only ever contact one end point with these things.”

“It’s true each particle is only bound to one other at a specific end point but Admiral Hackett started an initiative to build a network using communicators containing multiple entangled particles bound to different end points.”

“So where else can we reach with this thing?”

“That’s the trouble sir, all the comm channels have been locked down, the idea was to stop unauthorized access from potentially indoctrinated agents.”

“Is there no way to access the locked channels?”

“We have managed to decrypt some of the channels but so far we haven’t been able to reach anyone on any channel except the Citadel one.”

“Is the device damaged in some way?”

“No sir, we believe the issue may be at the other end. Since we don’t know which channels we’re hacking we could easily be accessing-”

“Channels for places already overrun by the Reapers, I see. Is there any way we can find out which channel we’re hacking ahead of time?”

“They all have an identification code sir but we’ve lost all the databases telling us what those codes mean. The Reapers have basically wiped out a lot of the information we once knew.”

“Aren’t there backups?”

“The backups were stored on Arcturus Station sir.”

“I see, well let me take a look.”

“Sir I don’t think-”

“That was an order Cadet -”

“Monroe, James Monroe and this is Sarah uh- Cadet Smith I mean. We'll show you right away sir.”

It took a long time for the techs to find and load up the codes. Part of me wondered why I was spending so much time on this, but I had a hunch that this technology might just be our edge. I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately, what sort of edge or advantage we might have over the races that came before us. They all fought the Reapers and every single time, every species that came along lost the war. 

This cycle has already been slightly different, we managed to delay the invasion by about three years by stopping Sovereign. We prevented the Reapers from tearing through the Citadel or catching us by surprise (sort of). I can’t help looking closely at every advance we’ve made in the last three years (such as the QEC’s). It’s time we never should’ve had, time no one who came before us was ever given. Maybe it’ll be enough, maybe it’ll give us a chance if we fight for it hard enough. In any case the Cadets finally got hold of the codes and we spent some time pouring through them. The codes were long complex and seemingly meaningless at first but I felt sure that something about them was familiar. Eventually after a period of mind numbing staring at the codes I finally saw it.

“There, that’s what I spotted at first.”

“What is it, sir?”

“Commander Yeldman’s Alliance record number. It’s embedded in the middle of this code.”

“Are you sure sir?”

“Certain, he got so many official reprimands I found myself looking at his record more times than I can remember. He was eventually transferred to Arcturus Station.”

“They must embed the ID of whoever the channel contacts within the code. We already hacked this one and got no response though.”

“If this channel links back to Arcturus that’s not surprising. Let me take a look at some more, see if we can identify some priority channels to unlock.”

“Right away sir.”

The next few minutes were a flurry of excitement in the base as word started to get out. Several more officers soon joined us and started hunting through the codes for anyone they recognized who might still be alive. I think I’ll remember that time as the first moment I felt hope again since the arrival of the Reapers. People were starting to crowd round hoping to get a chance to get some news from the world outside our base. There was a big cheer when someone finally spotted Hackett’s ID on one of the comm channel codes. The military personnel here had plenty of family they knew were serving in the Fifth Fleet. I thought that one was going to be the pick of the draw and was about to order the Cadets to start hacking that channel when I got an even bigger surprise.

“Admiral we’ve found your channel.” One of the officers said laughing. 

“Mine?” I went over to take a look and sure enough there was my own ID number. 

“So I guess that leads back to an entanglement device in the Homeworld Defense Division building sir?”

“No I never had a communicator set up there, it was only a temporary post until I -”

I stood up sharply having just realized the implications. “I was going to take the SSV Normandy as my flagship, maybe that’s where this one is pointed?”

The Cadets still in the corner started nodding. “Yes that makes sense, we were assigned to help Specialist Traynor with retrofits to the Normandy that included a large quantum entanglement communication network.”

“In other words this channel would let us contact Commander Shepard.”

The room went silent just at the mention of his name, to everyone else present he was just a legend. But they all knew that he’d once served under my command. I realized that Commander Shepard had become a symbol to these people, one that I could use.

“I know you must have lots of questions but I’ll have to keep this brief for now. Some of you may have heard that Shepard was a criminal or that he’d gone crazy when he warned us about the Reapers for the first time. Well... you only have to take a look outside to see he wasn’t crazy. Everything he warned us about is true.” I began by saying but they needed more than restored faith in an icon. They needed hope.

“When I chose to stay behind and fight I sent him to the Citadel to get help. To bring back as many allied fleets as he could and take back our home. But until that day comes our duty is to hold out, to save as many lives as possible so we have something to come back to when this is all over. I know General Coberg has other ideas, that he and his men are busy right now preparing their attack. I won’t try to stand in his way right now but there may come a time when I need to take command. I hope I’ll have your support in that as you all have mine. In the meantime we’ll do everything we can to try and establish contact on the other channels and maybe get word to your loved ones. Dismissed.”

The gathered officers, troops and civilians all filed out and I was left standing with the two Cadets again.

“You know you never answered my original question. Can we move this thing if we have to?”

“The only important component is the Quantum Hub that stores the entangled particles sir, if we removed that we could transport it easily. We’d just need to find another standard communication platform somewhere to plug it into.”

“Good work, start by hacking the comm channel to Admiral Hackett and then the one to the Normandy.”

“At once Admiral, but can I just ask why we’re expecting to have to move this thing? Are we going somewhere sir?”

“Just focus on your work for now Cadet.”

I headed away, we’d made some good progress here but it was time to monitor the General’s attack. Far as I could see he was about to kick the hornet's nest and bring the whole mess down on top of us. Since I couldn’t stop Coberg from launching his attack it wasn’t a case of if we were going to have to run but when. No point scaring the techs with talk like that though. Right now I needed to know what was happening outside.

I hurried through the crowded corridors looking for Maria or Daniels but couldn’t spot them. Eventually a burly man beckoned me over, looked to be civilian not military but I headed over anyway. Without speaking he lead me round the corner to a deserted corridor.

“Right then, let’s get started. We don’t have much time.”

“What?” I turned round confused and slightly concerned that this could be one of the general’s men.

“Maria said you’d want to monitor the progress of the mission.”

“You’re one of her men?”

“Her deputy actually, the name’s James. James Burges not that it matters. Anyways if we set up in one of the offices near here we can get an idea of what’s going on.”

I let him lead the way and we headed up into the derelict office block adjoining the base.

“So where are the others right now?”

“Maria’s in barracks complex B with most of the refugees we’ve taken into the base and the rest of her men. If the Reapers start to get interested in the base she’ll lead them out before things start to get heavy. Private Daniels is with the General now, he’s managed to link up a feed so we’ll be able to see and hear the same info the General’s getting.”

“That’s good work, looks like we’re all set for the mission. It’s due to commence in just over an hour.”

Burges shook his head. “More like five minutes actually, Coberg brought the schedule forward.”

“Of course he did. Well let’s see what he’s getting us all into then.”

Burges activated the monitors and we started to see video from two feeds; one for the distraction team the other for the main assault force. Both teams appeared to already be outside maneuvering through the ruins of what used to be Vancouver. It was eerily quiet now, no longer the war zone it had been a few days ago. Evidently the Reapers had succeeded in their efforts to comb through this area of the city; stripping it bare of both resources and people. 

The Makos from both teams slowly crawled towards their objectives, as I’d predicted the rough terrain was making it impossible to move quickly (not that it actually stopped them either. I swear Makos could drive up the sides of the buildings if they had to). As the infiltration team reached the peak of a pile of debris the first of the Reapers came into view. They would need to move it into position so that the strike force could-. Well it didn’t happen that way, they’d just gotten within sight of the Reaper when alarms started going off throughout the compound. 

“What is it?”

“Unauthorized transmission.” Burges replied, urgently scanning the feeds. “Someone sent some co-ordinates from a secure terminal. I don’t understand, why would anyone-”

“What do you mean? What co-ordinates?”

“For the assault teams. Someone just sent their position directly to the Reapers!”

“Goddammit! There must be an indoctrinated agent within the base. Can you find out where the signal was sent from? Or who sent it?”

“No, the command was routed through the main operations center but I can’t tell if that’s where it originated from.”

It wasn’t long before we saw the first Reaper beam, shooting across the feed and hitting one of the Makos from the main assault force. The armored truck was thrown into the air like a toy then the whole screen went red just before the feed cut out. 

“Daniels, are you there, do you copy?”

At first there was only silence and static then what sounded like shouting on the other end of the line. Looking at the remaining monitors that still showed an image of the battle it wasn’t hard to see why everyone might be busy over there. We waited a few more minutes, unable to make sense of the sounds of arguing and general commotion we were hearing, it was coming though too quietly to make out what was being said but I gathered panic was setting in. I was about to give up on the comm when Daniels voice finally came through.

“I’m here Admiral, looks like everyone’s too busy to overhear us right now. What are your orders, sir?”

“The Reapers wouldn’t waste a good ambush like this, bring up the feeds for the main entrance to the compound.”

“Aye sir” 

A few moments later the feed appeared on my screen and the sight of it felt like a kick in the guts. I’d expected the Reapers to try another assault while our troops were elsewhere but nothing on the scale we were now seeing. I saw several hulking shapes lumbering forward. They walked like gorillas I guess, hunched over, fists dragging along the ground most of the time but they were two maybe three times the size, their skin an abhorrent mix of metal and flesh. I’ve still no idea what they are or how the Reapers made them. 

I saw a soldier try to use the mounted turret against one of these new monster. The creature simply charged through, ignoring the damage it took. When it reach the barricade it lifted him off the ground and ripped his arms out of their sockets, leaving a bodied corpse for the Cannibals. And all along the line the story was the same, these Brutes took the brunt of the attacks as they approached our defenses. Then the Husks and Cannibals climbed over them in an endless wave, butchering everyone too slow to get away.

Burges swore at the screen at looked back towards the open door behind us. It was clear he was thinking of running but I only shook my head briefly to indicate I thought it was a bad idea. If he decided to go I wouldn’t try to stop him or blame him for his actions. Not given the massacre being played out on the monitors in front of us.

“Sir? What are your orders?” Daniels had clearly been watching the feed as well, I could hear the panic rising in his voice. 

“Warn them and then get yourself out of there Daniels. Go and secure the Quantum Entanglement tech. Get it on a ship headed out of here.”

I ended the connection and immediately called up Maria. 

“Anderson, are you there? What’s going on? We’ve heard alarms, gunfire even. The people down here are terrified.”

“Someone sold us out or has been indoctrinated. The Reapers have got a new kind of soldier. Massive Brutes that are overwhelming our outer defenses. You need to get the civilians on to those ships and to out of here. Start a full evac; this compound has been compromised.”

“How are the hell are those ships going to make it past those walking death machines out there?”

“I think I may have an idea. Focus on getting the civilians onto the transports but don’t take off unless I give the word. Or if the Reapers reach your position.”

Burges turned to me. “What do we do?”

“I have an idea. Half of one at least. The general and his staff kept talking about a ‘phase two’. I got the impression it might be able to get us out of this mess.”

“But you don’t know what it is?”

“I’m heading to the command center to find out.”

“But the traitor or indoctrinated agent or whatever we’re meant to call them, they might still be in there.”

I paused for a moment. “It’s a possibility. Mind watching my back for me on this one?”

He looked like he was going to be physically sick at the suggestion. I’m sure he’d seen a lot in his time as a cop but even then he wasn’t even halfway prepared to face this invasion of monsters. I felt a momentary surge of even greater hatred toward the Reapers. 

This man had dedicated his life to serving others with courage and integrity. If the Reapers had never come he would have lived his life a proud local hero and never have to wear this expression of shame as he contemplated running away. He had nothing to be ashamed of, this was something he should never have had to face. To my surprise just as I was about to suggest he head back to Maria instead he nodded his agreement.

“We’ll try to avoid the worst of the fighting,” I promised

We headed back into the main military complex again. We saw a column of soldiers rushing towards the nearest tunnel entrance. Again I felt the familiar pang of guilt as I turned away and headed for the command center. Those men were going try and hold the tunnels against the Reapers. They were going to fight and probably most of them were going to die just to buy us some more time to evacuate. I understood why what I was doing was more important, if those Reaper Destroyers weren’t stopped none of us were getting out of here alive, but I couldn’t help hating myself for not fighting alongside those men. 

I spent most of my military career as a front line soldier, in the trenches at Shanxi, flying missions as captain of the Normandy. I thought of myself as a fighter but every promotion had taken me further away from it. From soldier to captain to Councilor and Admiral. I’d stayed on Earth so that I could fight the good fight; to be a soldier again but now I realize I can never again be what I once was. I see now it wasn’t just the promotions, I have changed. Seasoned might be the right word for it I guess. I’ve come to understand the importance of thinking before you jump in. I’m just not sure I’ve worked out how to live with it yet. 

When we neared the command center we found Colonel Travis hurrying away in the opposite direction. 

“What’s going on Colonel, why aren’t you at your post?”

“The command center has been abandoned, I was the last one out sir.”

“And the General?”

“He went with his personal guard to fortify the position at the main entrance.”

“How bad is the situation?”

“So far the tunnels haven’t fallen, the bottleneck is still keeping them at bay but I doubt it will last much longer, we’ve also had reports of Reaper forces spread out inside the base, we think they got in by tunneling through from some of the adjacent buildings.”

“And up top? Are the destroyers still active up there?”

“The assault force managed to disable one of the Reaper Destroyers before they were wiped out. The other two are now positioned directly next to the compound.”

“So if we try to get out using the ships in the hangar they’ll just shoot us down?”

“How did you know ab-”

“Nevermind that, just let me know if those ships are still operational.”

“Only about half are still working at the moment but their kinetic barriers won’t withstand Reaper fire.”

“Huh no kidding. Which why you’d better tell me about phase two.”

“The General said that was classified.”

“And by now he’s probably dead. Unless we we all want to join him I need to know what phase two is.”

“Phase two relates to the second part of our plan to attack the Reapers, once the Makos had destroyed the first wave, we were going to deploy this weapon to surprise the second wave.”

“And what was this weapon? I know it’s under water, is it a missile silo or something?”

“It’s a fleet of Arcadia class submarines that we’re still in radio contact with. They are carrying large versions of the experimental Thanix Cannons.”

“All of them?” I have to admit a certain among of surprise. Thanix Cannons are based on Reaper tech salvaged from Sovereign. It’s one of the few weapons we have that even slightly affects the Reapers.

“Well that would certainly have given the Reapers a nasty shock.”

“But it’s a one shot deal sir. After they subs open fire they’ll have to dive and scatter to stop the Reapers from finding them. They’ll go dark so we’ll get no more radio contact from them.”

“Well there’s nothing worse than having a weapon that you’re too dead to use. Call in the strike Colonel, hopefully we’ll all be long gone by the time Reaper reinforcements arrive.”

“I can’t do that sir.”

“Colonel-”

“Whoever sent the transmission to the Reapers sabotaged all communication systems immediately afterward. All the consoles in there are dead now.”

“But they’re just the end terminals, the physical equipment was stored elsewhere in the base. Would it be possible to manually send a message if we got to it?”

It’s all down in the communications room on the level below us. It won’t be easy to reach it now, they are already Reapers in that area. Even if you got it to work the Reapers will definitely detect the signal as soon as we send it.”

“Hopefully the Destroyers won’t live long enough to do anything about it.”

“The Destroyers maybe but the ground troops will be on our back.”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”

The colonel nodded vaguely and started to hurry down the corridor, I think she understood the sentiment in any case. Luckily there was an armory close to the command center full of scavenged armor and weaponry, we grabbed whatever was closest and pressed on. We probably looked a bit strange in that odd mismatch of gear but at this stage I really didn’t care. We didn’t meet any resistance until we reached the elevator down towards the East Wing. As we called it up one of those Brutes was in there waiting for us, it almost filled the entire space, crammed in. As it started climbing out of the lift so it could rip us apart we decided the stairs might be easier. Good thing to note about the Brutes through is that they’re slow. We managed to head back kick down the door to the staircase and race down the steps leaving it in our dust. 

A single Marauder barred our path as we headed on. A few steps above it I was able to give it a swift boot to the face to knock it down and then jumped down and used my omniblade to finish it. The East Wing was connected to the surface by one of the tunnels that had been under siege. It was pretty clear that by now East Wing would be overrun but we had to find a path through. We came out of a corridor and saw a firefight ahead. A bunch of Cannibals had a group of Alliance soldiers pinned down but they hadn’t seem us yet. We came up behind the Cannibals and a quick grenade helped up remove them. The soldiers headed up towards and their leader, a lieutenant I think saluted me. 

“Glad to see you made it in one piece sir, thanks for the assist. The radio transmitter is down that way,” The soldier pointed to a side door. “Sounds like your man is encountering a lot of Reapers down that way, we’ll stick to holding this corridor as your escape route sir.”

“Sorry? My man?”

“Sir? He showed up saying he worked for you and that you’d need access to the transmitter.”

“Very well, hold this position, we should be returning shortly”

We headed in the direction the lieutenant had indicated but I was still bewildered by this development. Who had he been talking about? No one knew I was after the transmitter... Unless it was one of the General’s men, he might’ve suspected I’d learn about phase two and known I’d need the transmitter. Still didn’t make much sense though, I wasn’t sure what game he was playing right now. 

As we moved forward we could see the lieutenant had been right about the Reaper presence, there were clear signs of battle and bodies of Reaper foot soldiers. There was red blood spilled here too, human blood, who ever had fought their way through before us had clearly been injured in the process. As we approached the transmitter room we heard loud crashes and a low roaring sound. We entered to find a Brute standing over a man who was lying flat on his back. Well that was no good at this rate he’d be squashed before I could ask him any questions. 

We moved in on the monster peppering its massive back with fire from our assault rifles as we charged but it seemed to have little effect on the behemoth. It swung round with one arm aimed at knocking us flying but I grabbed Burges and dragged him to the ground. He got squirmed out of my grip and got back up, opening fire at the creature’s chest. I didn’t even see the Brutes other fist come round but I felt it pass over my head before smacking into Burges’s chest and knocking him against the far wall. The creature turned towards me and I raised my gun thinking I would go out fighting when the creature stumbled and almost fell on top of me. The unknown strange had put a shotgun to the back of it’s right knee and blown the joint apart. Still the Brute still focused on reaching me as if nothing else mattered. It crawled across the ground towards me as I scrambled to get away, then the stranger put the shotgun to its head and ended it. 

“Sir? Are you alright?”

“Daniels? What the hell are you doing here? I told you to get the QEC and go.”

“It’s secured sir, but I heard about phase two from the general and thought I should come here.”

“That’s... Quick thinking there Private, well done. Thanks for the help just now.”

I went to check on Burges who was still slumped in the corner where the blow had left him. His neck had been broken by the force of the impact. I closed his eyes and then turned back towards Daniels. 

“Where’s that damn transmitter? We need to get that message out now. Too many lives have been lost today already.”

Daniels nodded slowly as if distracted but didn’t move at first, his expression unreadable. I realised he was looking at Burges body, probably one of the first corpses he’d come in contact with while still conscious.

“I know,” I said quietly. “But we have to get moving, there are people counting on us.”

“Oh. Right. Yes Admiral, right this way,” Daniels said as he came out of his daze and led me the rest of the way to the communications room. 

The equipment was undamaged and fortunately it didn’t take us long to get the signal out but we had no way of knowing if it had been received and even if it was that the order would be obeyed. Those subs would probably be able to get away before the Reapers regrouped and went after them but it would still be a risk for them. There was nothing I could do but pray they’d come to our aid in our hour of need. 

With nothing more that we could do here I gave the order to evacuate the base. As we returned to the soldiers we’d left to hold the position we found them in another firefight against a dozen Marauders. This was seriously bad news, the Marauders were clearly capable soldiers, equipped with personal shields and assault rifles. I grabbed Daniel’s shotgun and put both barrels in the chest of one attempting to charge us and it went down. 

All eyes then turned on me and the Marauders stopped firing at us, instead simply staring at me intently. We stood, all of us frozen, wondering what was about to happen and then one of the lead Marauders suddenly collapsed dropping to its knees. The creature shrieked in pain, writhing on the ground in agony like it was possessed. When it looked up I saw that it was.

“Assuming direct control.”

The voice seemed to come from everywhere, deep and hollow and filled with power. I’d heard of this before, a Reaper was using this creature as a puppet.

“Admiral David Anderson, Alliance, Formerly the Human Representative on the Citadel Council. Rejected candidate for the Special Tactics and Recon Division.”

Well he or it or whatever had certainly done its homework on me.

“Harbinger I presume? This trick of yours isn’t new to me. I know you used it to speak to Shepard.”

“Harbinger. One of the many names I have been given by races attempting to comprehend their inevitable destruction. In the end such labels are meaningless.”

So, the leader of the Reapers wanted to speak to me, this was certainly unexpected. Just as Shepard had described to me I felt an aura of power and arrogance around him. We aren’t exactly chatty with the Reapers but Harbinger isn’t the first that’s communicated with us. Sovereign was confident, prideful even but not actively hostile or aggressive (it did try to kill us but it’s attitude seemed to indicate it was simply a duty it needed to perform). Harbinger has always been different in many ways. It’s larger than the others, more powerful and seems to bare real malice against us. All in all not the sort of ‘person’ you want to get the attention of. 

“How do you know who I am?” As I tried to keep Harbinger distracted I signaled the troops to fall back, this wasn’t a battle we’d be able to win.

“The creature you called Saren shared much knowledge with us. We wish to understand your failure.”

“What failure? I don’t understand.”

“You failed on the path where the Shepard succeeded. We must understand the nature of our enemy.”

“Why the hell d’you think I’d help you?”

“You are trying to save these creatures, small things of flesh that wither and die. We can make them immortal.”

“Immortality? From you? I think they’d rather die.”

“Then you will watch them perish, all of them, day after day until you submit.”

“But you won’t kill me? Not until you get this information on Shepard?”

“You will tell us what we wish to know.”

“Well thanks for confirming that.” I said and switched my shields off. 

“Everyone get behind me and run, don’t let them get a clear shot at you.”

The troops fled and I stood my ground letting them get a head start on the Reaper forces. In the spur of the moment I realized I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to get out of this myself. The Reapers seemed to notice this issue as well and started moving towards me, keen to grab their prize. They didn’t get far before a massive crash knocked everyone to the floor. As I hit the ground the heavy pounding continued and I grinned to myself, imagining each blow as it struck the Destroyers above us. With any luck ‘phase two’ had just done its work, but that meant I needed to get going. The window for my escape (i.e. Before more Reapers showed up) would be small.

When the smoke and debris cleared, Harbinger’s Marauder was one of the few still left standing but it probably shouldn’t have been. It was badly injured, one arm broken, the left side of its head caved in from the force of its collision with the wall. But still it remained standing, its controller not feeling or caring for the creature’s pain. 

“You have gained nothing here. This victory only sows the seeds of your inevitable defeat.”

I remained silent and we stared at each other for a moment before I turned and fled, leaving a grenade behind to discourage pursuit. 

I don’t really have time to recount the rest of the fight through the base in detail. My team fought well, taking on swarms of Husks, Cannibals and even a Brute or two. We didn’t lose anyone but it was a tough fight and not many of us came through unmarked. When we reached there were still several ships left, more than I expected really. We found the Colonel there with a few men and a makeshift monitoring station.

“What are you still doing here Colonel, I’d have thought you’d have taken a shuttle by now.”

“Actually I asked them to wait behind for you, Admiral.”

“Xi Chan? You’re still here? I sent Daniels to evac you and the other techs as soon as this started, where are they?”

“Cadets Monroe and Smith are already on an evac shuttle along with the QEC, sir.”

“Then why did you stay behind?”

“I’ve designed a short range communicator to interface with the QEC, for your personal use sir. You’ll need me with you to operate it.”

“Very... Uh very forward thinking of you Xi Chan, thank you. But there’s one other thing.”

“Sir?”

“Can you rig up something that can broadcast a signal to the rest of the city?”

“What should it say?”

“Warn them that the Reapers will return soon enough, bringing retribution for the Destroyers we killed. Tell them to get out if they can, anyone that stays...” I didn’t finish the sentence, I didn’t need to.

“I can probably set something up once we’re on the shuttle,” Xi Chan promised.

“Okay good. In the meantime wait here, I expect we’ll be ready to go soon.”

I turned back towards the Colonel.

“Why are there so many ships left, is the evac not complete yet?”

“We found a civilian woman organizing the evac by the time we arrived, said her name was-”

“Maria, yes I asked her to start getting people out, where is she now?”

“She went back to North Wing to get the last group of refugees. And-”

“And what?”

She pointed to a monitor and I saw the video feeds again. More than half the cameras were gone by now, Reaper forces could be seen in every single video by now, all over the base. Then I saw North Wing itself, the survivors were grouped in the main hall there was maybe twenty or thirty fighters still standing but what they were up against...

The rest of the hall was filled with Reaper troops, there were no gaps between them, no way of distinguishing between them any more. It was just a wall of metal and gray flesh, pressing against the fighters so close in places that they were forced to fight hand to hand. For a moment I thought I saw Maria, fighting side by side with the General but then there was shift in the crowd and they vanished from view. I scanned the other feeds but there was no one else left.

“Shut it down.”

“What?”

“I said shut it down, we’re leaving.”

“But those people, I thought you could-”

“I can’t save them, don’t make this any harder Colonel, that’s an order. Are the skies clear of Reapers?”

“Yes phase two did its work.”

“Then we go now, the Reapers have identified me as a priority target. If we wait any longer the Reapers will send reinforcements and we will all die.”

I hate myself for those words but I promised myself that this would be an honest record of events on earth. If you’re reading this from the next cycle, if we failed and you’re facing the Reapers, I hope this helps you understand the hard choices you’re about to face. I hope it helps you succeed where I think we’re going to fail.

I shouldn’t think that way but right now I’m on one of the shuttles, looking back at what used to be the city of Vancouver behind us. We were the last shuttle out, behind us there are no signs of life left. Beyond any doubt I know this city is finished and I don’t know if it will ever rise again. 

I’ve seen this view of Vancouver a dozen times over, it used to be so beautiful, the way the clear blue river snaked its way through the city with the mountains rising up behind it. Even the high rise buildings had a certain pleasing aesthetic in the way the light reflected off them each morning. Now most of those buildings are flattened (some of them crushed by the Reapers as they died no doubt, I can still see their broken corpses strewn out atop the rubble). 

If I use my binoculars I can still see the Husks on the remaining buildings. They look like ants, the way they swarm over the buildings, there must be tens of thousands of them at least. There are fires burning everywhere and the river looks like a spaceship scrapyard, full of half sunken wrecks. 

Shepard I hope you can bring help soon because looking at the way the Reapers consumed this city one thing is abundantly clear. We can’t do this alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so here we are at the end of the first section. I hope you've been enjoying it so far. As always I really appreciate any reviews or comments sent my way.


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